alternator belt shredding [Merged 6-8] shedding falling off squeal noise thrown

[marksae]

Alright.. i've gone through some hell w/ my alternator belt on my 1g. Ever since I removed my AC belt, my alternator belt has flown off 3 times, and I've shredded 2 of them. If i leave it too loose, it flies off. If I tighten it too much, the belt shreds. I'll check my pulleys to make sure they're all lined up and aren't dinged up. Will overtightening this belt cause it to shred?

As this amalgamation of threads shows, the usual causes of alternator belt troubles are:
1. Failed harmonic balancer.
2. Bent pulleys.
3. Pulleys put on backward.

 

[jammer]

Well, a stock harmonic balancer seems to be good for about a decade. I don't know if, nor to what if any extent, a non-damped crankshaft will do damage to the main bearings in that amount of time. Still and all, your choice.

I don't mean to steal threads, but I just had my harmonic balancer replaced yesterday, and I drive a 99 GSX with 44,000 miles. There was a squeaking belt noise for 2 weeks or so, and yesterday I took a left turn and POP! it just broke. What could cause that? Also, I paid $256 for parts and labor + 50 for tow, is that a good price? thanks -jam.

 

[oldman]

I don't mean to steal threads, but I just had my harmonic balancer replaced yesterday, and I drive a 99 GSX with 44,000 miles. There was a squeaking belt noise for 2 weeks or so, and yesterday I took a left turn and POP! it just broke. What could cause that? Also, I paid $256 for parts and labor + 50 for tow, is that a good price? thanks -jam.

uh-oh check for CW.

 

[2gtalonman]

squeaking noise! dont scare me.... I have a squeaking by by alterntor pully, mabey lower, The guy i bought my talon from said it was the pullys :thumbdown

 

[jammer]

uh-oh check for CW.

everything seems back to normal, is there anything i should be worried about? is there something i should check for? if i had crank walk, then it wouldnt drive now would it? one more thing, i wasnt beating on it at all when it happened, i was simply making a slow left turn. does anyone think i was affected? thanks -jam

 

[jammer]

squeaking noise! dont scare me.... I have a squeaking by by alterntor pully, mabey lower, The guy i bought my talon from said it was the pullys :thumbdown

that is exactly were i thought the noise was coming from. sorry man. -jam

 

[my95tsi]

I have replced this belt 2 times since it started squeeling and each time i replace it it last 2 weeks until the squeeling starts again. It only squeels alot when the lights are on and i cold start it. But it always squeels just a tad when the lights are on and i'm moving from a stop. My volts with the lights on while driving are about 13.2 and at idle they are anywhere from 10.5-12.8 But during the day without light my volts at idle and driving are around 13.2-13.8 I don't know what the deal is but i've had my radio cut out on me few times (not recently) because the volts dropped too low. If it's not my alternator what else could it be?

 

[terminaltsi]

probably the alternator unless you don't have the tension set right on your belt. how are yo utensioning it?

 

[kyledykstra]

Did you re-tension the belt, or just change it? Typically you have to re-tension it after a couple hundred miles because the belt stretches a little from use.

 

[my95tsi]

This is my second time changing the belt and each belt has been re-tensioned several times. I even took it to a shop to have them re-tension it and it still would squeel after awhile. But why are my volts so low??

 

[m1nd64m3]

pull the belt off and spin the alt pulley and see if it makes noise or if its hard to spin. i had the same problem and it ended up that the bearings in it where shot.

 

[93LaserRSBham]

I drove to work today, the car ran fine, about a 20 mile trip and then I get in the car to go home and the alternator belt comes off. I borrowed a 12mm wrench from a friend at work and put the belt back on and when I started it up the car ran fine, and then I noticed that the belt was coming off the bottom pulley, towards the rear of the engine (crankshaft pulley?) again. I thought that I had not seated the alternator belt correctly onto the pulley, and so I undid everything, made sure it was seated correctly and then tightened everything back up again. When I went to start the car again it came right off, didn't even idle for a second. The first time I put the belt back on it idled fine, even ran for a minute when I moved it across the parking lot to check and see if the power steering was working again. Anyway, is this my harmonic dampener going bad or whatever it's called? How expensive is it to replace this? Please help, I have to get up early and try to fix myself just in case that it's not something serious...if it is something I need to take it into the shop for, then the earlier the better, seeing as how it's my only day off tomorrow!

 

[oldman]

The crank pulley is probably separated causing it to slide in and out making the alternator belt to come off. Look at the pulley while some one crank the car, you will see it move if it's separated. Good luck.

 

[93LaserRSBham]

Well, if that is the case, how serious is this and how much do you think it would cost me to fix? I've pretty much prepared myself to take it to a shop tomorrow and try to get the work done, so don't be easy on me, .... Defiant where are you? You seem like the expert on the subject of the harmonic dampener around here, or at least that's what I gathered from reading loads of posts about the topic.

 

[Defiant]

The part's around $125, the labor will probably run 1.25 hours (wild-ass guess).

 

[93LaserRSBham]

Thanks, I guess that's good news, if there is such a thing whenever we're talking about taking my car to a shop.

 

[LaserDad91]

I had the same issue as you. There is a couple of threads on here I posted about it. My mechanic put mine on for $40 bucks. Cost of part was $160 with shipping from Chrysler Parts Direct dot com. When he took mine off, if fell apart! Good luck!

EDIT: Here's the links.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164814

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156981

 

[93LaserRSBham]

Thanks LaserDad, I just have one more question though before I try to go work on it in the parking lot at work, . Could there be any other reason why this is happening? The car has about 160k on it and when I bought it from a good friend of mine it had 90k on it. I've read that alot of people have this problem around 75k, so if the crank pulley has been replaced before could it need it again? I don't know if it's ever been replaced, but if it has been replaced could there be another culprit here?

 

[LaserDad91]

Thanks LaserDad, I just have one more question though before I try to go work on it in the parking lot at work, . Could there be any other reason why this is happening? The car has about 160k on it and when I bought it from a good friend of mine it had 90k on it. I've read that alot of people have this problem around 75k, so if the crank pulley has been replaced before could it need it again? I don't know if it's ever been replaced, but if it has been replaced could there be another culprit here?

I would tend to think not. I had my problem around 93K?, just this past winter. If it was replaced ~ 75K then you would be due again. Just ck to see if it wobbling, and if it is, replace it. I could not find anything else, and like I said in my posts, once I read about it, I parked it till the part came and replaced it.

I have not had a problem with belt squel or "release" , since. I have even added Dual mode driving/fog lamps, and with the fogs on, parking lights on, front/rear defrost on, at idle, in the morning, cool temps ~ 20-30 degree, no problems. I am also running a "polycog" style belt by Dayco, not that makes a differance.

Just don't take the chance, if it wobbling, park the car, order the part and have it replaced. If she blows while driving, you will have more expense fixing it. My pully just bolts on, no puller needed. Yours is probably the same, and you will know when u get the new pulley. Good Luck!!

 

[93LaserRSBham]

Well, bad news...I got the belt back on this morning, started it up, and it idled fine. I even got under the car while it was running to watch the crank pulley, and it's not really wobbling at all, and the belt stayed on. I even turned it off and started it again to make sure the starting of the car wouldn't throw it off again. Well, I went inside work and got some lunch and came back out, started it up, and started to drive off and then I heard this horrible noise that sounded like the belt tearing itself up or something. I stopped the car, turned it off and popped the hood to check the belt. The belt was fine, still all the way on the pulley, so I got back in it and tried to start the car and now it won't start. The starter is working, but the engine won't seem to turn over and all it does it sputter and die, even when flooring the gas. Did my crank sensor malfunction or something? I got it towed to a reputable mechanic in town, where should he start looking for problems ?

 

[oldman]

That doesn't sound good. Remove the upper timing belt cover and take a look.

 

[93LaserRSBham]

I checked out the timing belt, looks fine and intact (thank God)...it's in the shop now and they won't look at it until tomorrow so I'm a nervous wreck Also when I was trying to start it up you could see a small puff of black smoke coming from the front side of the motor, but that might be something burning off the belt since I had just put it back on (although I cleaned the crap out of it and de-gunked it including all the pulleys). The attached pic shows where the smoke was coming from, it wasn't a lot, but every time I would try to start it a little puff would come out...

 

[93LaserRSBham]

Anyone?

 

[LaserDad91]

You probably have a busted manifold bolt and a gasket leak in that area. Remove the heat shield and you should be able to see traces of carbon where the exhaust leak is.

That suks on your car, when was the last time the timing belt was replaced?

 

[93LaserRSBham]

The timing belt has been replaced twice. The first owner (my friend Scott) busted his timing belt around 70-80k I think, and he bent half his valves and paid out the ass to get it fixed. I put a new water pump on maybe two or three years ago, or about 30k ago and went ahead and put a new water pump on then. I did take the heat shield off the manifold yesterday (I've never looked under there before, I'm a newbie) and saw that the manifold had a couple of big cracks. They may have been there a while, I don't know. Have any ideas as to why it won't start? Like I said earlier, the timing belt looks fine, and my mechanic said if the crank sensor is off the car won't start...

 

[oldman]

The timing belt has been replaced twice. The first owner (my friend Scott) busted his timing belt around 70-80k I think, and he bent half his valves and paid out the ass to get it fixed. I put a new water pump on maybe two or three years ago, or about 30k ago and went ahead and put a new water pump on then. I did take the heat shield off the manifold yesterday (I've never looked under there before, I'm a newbie) and saw that the manifold had a couple of big cracks. They may have been there a while, I don't know. Have any ideas as to why it won't start? Like I said earlier, the timing belt looks fine, and my mechanic said if the crank sensor is off the car won't start...

Just relax for now and wait for the verdict from your mechanic, post back what they say before you give them the OK.