serpentine belt 2000 Caravan 3.8L

Keith, unless you know exactly what to look for as far as the tensioner goes I would replace the belt and tensioner together. When the tensioner starts to wear it will tilt at an angle and may cause a squeak. When water hits the belt it will cause the belt to just slide right off without warning. You don't say what the mileage, but if it is the original tensioner I would replace it.

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Glenn,

There has been no squeaking but the mileage is over 88K. I suppose I'll do the tensioner also as long as I'm digging around this area.

Thanks for the quick reply.

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

Both Goodyear as well as Gates currently offer a field fix kit for the

It seems like there was a recall for the splash shield that protects the belt path. Do you recall Glenn?

-KM

did you actually try to rotate the tensioner? Mine locked up. looked fine but would not rotate, that is pivot along the tensioner arm. had to be replaced.

The original tensioner arm would swing (after finding the right combination of tools and with great effort.)

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

Why isn't Chrysler fixing this rather than Gate and Goodyear?

How do I follow-up on this, check with a Chrysler dealer?

None of the replies explicitly state that water is a contributing factor but it seems that this is the case.

Thanks everyone for sharing the knowledge.

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

Not sure.

Don't go to the dealer. Check with Napa or an aftermarket distributor of either Goodyear or Gates belt tensioners. If you want to go online, try contacting

factor but it seems that this is the case.

Water is definetly a contributing factor to this problem.

You're getting good advice, but I would add the water pump to the list of things to look at. I had a 3.3 engine Caravan a few years ago that threw the belt off because the water pump pulley was wobbly. Believe it or not, it didn't leak. It just threw the belt off. We also had a 96 Caravan that started throwing the belt when driving through puddles. I changed the belt and it improved the situation.

There was a TSB to install a shield, I have never installed one because the tensioner is what caused the belts to come off

Normally what causes the pump bearings to go bad and wobble like that is the belt tensioner has seized. the tensioner is designed to give from the torque of the belt. If the tensioner is seized the belt will transfer all the pull to the water pump and cause it to fail. Most shops don't pick that up and the vehicle returns shortly with another pump failure or the tensioner has just completely snapped off.

Glenn

Wow, I guess I got lucky on that van. I replaced the pump and continued to drive it for another 50,000 miles or so with no problems. I've learned a lot about these minivans from you guys on the group. It's just ironic that a lot of it applies to vans that I sold several years ago. I wish I had had all of this information at the time.

Yes, the discussion has been great and very helpful. Thanks everyone.

Whoa! That had to be a disturbing situation.

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

It was a 3.0 liter. Different engine, same problem. I have a friend with a 94, 3.3 liter, that threw its belt when wet. I don't think he changed the tensioner, just the belt. I'd listen to the guys on this group if I were you, though.

The spring on my tensioner broke. A 97 T&C with a 3.8.

Don't know why. I started making noise, I took it in, and the guy said the spring was broke. Never had a belt fail, btw. 242k miles. Have replaced it maybe once? Was making some noise, and had a few cracks and a glaziness (new word) to it.