Torn belt...again

**rajiv1998** · 05-18-2008, 06:53 PM

About a month back, my serpentine belt tore off on the highway. Before it did that, there was a chirping/squeeling sounds comming from it. It was def hitting something. I changed my water pump about 3 months ago and changed my belts at the same time. This will be the 3rd belt im changing in 3 months!! I dont know whats wrong with it, but it keeps tearing. Once it starts chirping, i know the end is near. What the hell could it be. Is the tensioner suppose to move? Last time i changed it, my friend held the tensioner down with a wrench and i slipped the belt on. What could be causing it to come off and tear. Would WD-40 on the tensioner work. My only concern is that the belt might slip off the pulley?

**stangslayer98** · 05-18-2008, 07:08 PM

yes the belt tensioner is supposed to move, but it also has to have tension pushing/guiding the belt can be your water pump installed incorrectly or the tensioner itself going bad

**01ws6er** · 05-18-2008, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by rajiv1998

About a month back, my serpentine belt tore off on the highway. Before it did that, there was a chirping/squeeling sounds comming from it. It was def hitting something. I changed my water pump about 3 months ago and changed my belts at the same time. This will be the 3rd belt im changing in 3 months!! I dont know whats wrong with it, but it keeps tearing. Once it starts chirping, i know the end is near. What the hell could it be. Is the tensioner suppose to move? Last time i changed it, my friend held the tensioner down with a wrench and i slipped the belt on. What could be causing it to come off and tear. Would WD-40 on the tensioner work. My only concern is that the belt might slip off the pulley?

Did you get a new tensioner? I know on my ranger I kept throwing belts/ squeeking like hell and it turned out that the tensioner arm was actually a cunt hair out of allignment and kept slipping belts. A tensioner may feel tight, and then you put on a new one and you're like holy shit, that wasn't even tight at all.

Another suggestion...your water pump pulley is just barely off of what the the other pulleys are. It sounds as if the problem started after changing the water pump, correct?

**blackbirdbrain89** · 05-18-2008, 07:12 PM

#1 what kind of belt are u using???? i had the same problem with aftermarket belts so i went to gm and used there belt and never had a problen . when i keep riping belts they would jump off on to the tensioner pully and riped rip by rib off u used ever type or belt gater back only lasted 2 weeks

**stangslayer98** · 05-18-2008, 07:27 PM

im using a goodyear gatorback belt and have the asp crankpulley with zero issues

**intheclouds1977** · 05-18-2008, 07:44 PM

It's not uncommon for people to think they have the water pump pulley on all they after doing a water pump changeout. Sounds like a dead giveaway that's your problem since you just changed your pump and now you're throwing belts. It's probably really close to inline since you're able to run for a week or so on one belt...but the pulley still probably needs to be cranked on just a hair more.