What caused this?

[BrokenTsi]

So I'm in the process of swapping a new head onto my car..........

I just changed the water pump and I noticed that the balance shaft belt was loose. I mean real loose. The belt is fairly new, I changed it a year ago and only went about 15k miles.

The belt had no teeth on it. It was wore right down to nothing. I never noticed a change in the way my car ran. It never vibrated or nothing, it actually ran really good.

The balance shaft is not frozen or locked. I can move it quiet easily with my hand and rotates fine.

There was however some oil and grease in there, but not a whole bunch. The crankshaft gear had some grudge on it.

The belt is a gatorback from autozone. Are these belts just junk? or was it something else that caused it?

 

[BrokenTsi]

Now that I think of it, this is the second one I blew out in under 10k miles.

 

[oddrob]

I've always had good luck with Gatorback belts. Could the tensioner pulley be bad?

 

[BrokenTsi]

possibly, im gonna get a new one. I was thinking maybe the belt wasn't on tight enough and it got some slack and got loose for a minute and just shredded off.

 

[oddrob]

They shouldn't be super tight otherwise they whine. A new pulley is only like $25, would be worth it just be sure.