Shredded belt, tensioner to blame???

[Eaglei532]

Just got my car back from having a few things done, leave the shop and not even 3 miles down the road my belt shreds. I mean it took a rub right off the belt and destroyed the rest. Guy at the shop said its probably my tensioners fault, he said the tensioner was made for racing and isn't going to do well of the street at lower RPMs. This makes no sense to me, and esp when the belt is brand new. So he wants to put a stock tensioner back on the car and said that would help. Ideas? Experience?

 

[04SolidSnake]

Which tensioner do you have on there? That doesn't make sense to me unless it is a manual tensioner and the belt was way too tight. Can I ask why you wanted another tensioner on there? With the big upper, on your car, the stock tensioner should have been ok?

 

[Cobra10thaniv]

I used a a Napa belt once lasted shorter than you. Mine lasted 1/8 mile when I stepped on it. That person prolly believes hes right but is misinformed gave you wrong info. I swapped to a gator back wondering if that would shred it did long time after. I am not running a small pulley Im running the lower at 16lbs. My thought was the I didnt have enough pressure from the tensioner. Because my belt skipped without enough tension. just my opinion for what its worth

 

[hotcobra03]

was the belt new as in out of box and installed just now...

i recall going in store looking for a shorter belt,,,they had 1 but it looked as if someone had already tried to use it,,,it had a small rip...

 

[03 TOPLESSSVT]

Could be the lower. They wreak havock when off a little bit.

 

[Jimmysidecarr]

Could be the lower. They wreak havock when off a little bit.

This.

Check the alignment of the pulleys before buying any parts besides the belt.

 

[Blueline]

I agree, it sounds like more of an alignment problem.

 

[funtruck]

The shop could have damaged one of the other pulleys. I had a shredded FEAD belt and found the culprit to be a nicked Power Steering pump pulley. Discovered that a bolt was dropped and never retrieved. At idle the car ran fine but as soon as the RPM's were raised the nicked pulley cut the belt.

 

[Eaglei532]

Yup gonna check all that soon, the belt had the first rib ripped all the way off, the rest of it stayed kinda intact, so the alignment issue sounds like the most likely thing. I'll post when I know

 

[Eaglei532]

Which tensioner do you have on there? That doesn't make sense to me unless it is a manual tensioner and the belt was way too tight. Can I ask why you wanted another tensioner on there? With the big upper, on your car, the stock tensioner should have been ok?

it was on the car when i bought it, i guess its coming off now, at least until i figure out what killed my belt

 

[04SolidSnake]

it was on the car when i bought it, i guess its coming off now, at least until i figure out what killed my belt

Oh, OK I misunderstood by what you meant by shredded.. How long have you had the car? Did the lower just go on, or has it been on the car for quite some time? Is the tensioner spring loaded, or is it manually tightened?

Having one rib coming off sure sounds like others have said its a pulley alignment issue.

 

[spdtrip]

Just got my car back from having a few things done, leave the shop and not even 3 miles down the road my belt shreds.

What kind of work did the shop do? How long has the belt been on your car? Seems weird that you had belt problems after getting it worked on.

 

[Eaglei532]

What kind of work did the shop do? How long has the belt been on your car? Seems weird that you had belt problems after getting it worked on.

I had a whole bunch of stuff done, but a new belt was installed too. The belt was brand new, and i don't really know if it the manual or spring assisted tensioner, not around the car right now to look.

 

[hotcobra03]

I had a whole bunch of stuff done, but a new belt was installed too. The belt was brand new, and i don't really know if it the manual or spring assisted tensioner, not around the car right now to look.

can you be more detailed on what was done....

 

[sprsonic]

i remember back in the day when i added a new billetflow 4 piece idler and 6 lb lower setup i used to peel the outer belt rib off, wasted 3 belts before a friend of mine told me he had the same issue. i had to add a washer to the lower idler next to the crank pulley(between the pulley and bracket). never had a belt problem since.

 

[CobraBob]

Biggest question is why the new belt was installed if the old one was fine. I'm thinking maybe some work was done that necessitated changing the belt. Yes? No/

More details on what was done by the shop would surely help, like Hotcobra03 said.

 

[Eaglei532]

yup here's everything that was done: (1) i had a better issue so they did a parasitic drain test, fixed the issue (2) car was running poorly, fuel pressure was spiking and dropping, car had delayed accel, put in a new fuel system with GT pumps and such-previous owner of the car put on a whipple and bolt ons but never touched the fuel system!?! (3) changed plugs and retuned the car with new fuel system in (4) had the belt replaced because it looked old and squeaked a ton, really really bad not just the cobra squeak. Car has 1 BF 100mm idler with bracket but the rest are stock, the guy at the shop says it has a RR tensioner on it and they had to really crank it down to make the belt stop squeaking. I didn't know, don't know, that it had the RR tensioner because i am in Afghan right now and am having a buddy of mine(with the help of my wife) fix the issues. Does that help?

 

[da2k17]

i had a pulley alignment issue once. like you i was tearing up belts and didnt know why. i got a 4 rib and set it in the middle of the pulleys and just watched it for a little bit. it would slowly move toward the motor so i knew something was off somewhere... turns out i forgot a spacer on my alternator bracket... anyway it will give you an idea if there is an alignment issue.

 

[Eaglei532]

i had a pulley alignment issue once. like you i was tearing up belts and didnt know why. i got a 4 rib and set it in the middle of the pulleys and just watched it for a little bit. it would slowly move toward the motor so i knew something was off somewhere... turns out i forgot a spacer on my alternator bracket... anyway it will give you an idea if there is an alignment issue.

good idea

 

[04SolidSnake]

yup here's everything that was done: (1) i had a better issue so they did a parasitic drain test, fixed the issue (2) car was running poorly, fuel pressure was spiking and dropping, car had delayed accel, put in a new fuel system with GT pumps and such-previous owner of the car put on a whipple and bolt ons but never touched the fuel system!?! (3) changed plugs and retuned the car with new fuel system in (4) had the belt replaced because it looked old and squeaked a ton, really really bad not just the cobra squeak. Car has 1 BF 100mm idler with bracket but the rest are stock, the guy at the shop says it has a RR tensioner on it and they had to really crank it down to make the belt stop squeaking. I didn't know, don't know, that it had the RR tensioner because i am in Afghan right now and am having a buddy of mine(with the help of my wife) fix the issues. Does that help?

Hrmm... Its still got the stock idlers on it with a lower?? Almost seems to me that the bearings in one of the idlers is shot, making the belt glaze and squeak, and the shop hammered on the tension to get it to stop?

Along with checking the belt alignment, I'd pull the stock idlers off and see if one or more of them isn't turning quite so nicely.

When I added the lower to my car I'd get cold squeak from the belt.. Alignment was good, belt tension was good, and idlers were good, so I just learned to live with it. When I had my ported eaton with a 2.80 upper, I squeezed the tightest belt I could on there and it would squeak real bad.. Now that I have the 3.5 upper on with the Whipple, I can afford to have a little more slack in the belt and it is better now. I'm not sure why I'm telling you all of this, but it seemed relevant when I started typing it