Power steering belt problems...

Hi, I have a 1998 Eagle Talon AWD turbo (Eclipse clone). Last year I kept throwing breaking the power steering belt. I would get it replaced and soon it would break again. I could see rubber shaving around the pulley. Local garage replaced my harmonic balancer and I thought all was well. Recently heard that familiar squeak coming from the same area. I tighten the tensioner bolt and it stopped the squeek temporarily. Now noticed a long lengthwise crack in belt. What keeps causing this misalignment that keeps killing my belt. The car has

109000 miles on it and I haven't changed the timing belt. I think I read something about broken motor mounts possibly causing the engine to shift around.

Any ideas would be great, thanks.

Reply to
Nozaki
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Power steering pump (as most of other parts) are actually mounted TO the engine, so engine mounts (connecting the engine to the chassis) has nothing to do with it. You might want to check the (vertical) alignment of the pulleys, I have seen a similar problem when the tensioner was incorrectly positioned (with a washer under it) and therefore it was out of line with the other runners causing the same problem with the belt.

Reply to
fast_cars_guy

OK, the main crank pulley (harmonic balancer) is a two piece part that can separate with age. The pulley drives the alternator and the water pump outer pulley. The water pump inner pulley drives the steering pump.

If we assume that there are no extraneous washers present around the water pump pulley set, all the belts should line up just fine.

Lets suppose that the water pump bearing has a problem: this could result in belt misalignment. The question now becomes "what is causing the water pump pulley problem?".

This is what I suspect:

worst case: Your engine is the 7 bolt 4G63 type that often suffers from crankwalk: this is the failure of the crank thrust bearings allowing the crank to move forward and back. (This is NOT a good thing, and fixing it requires a COMPLETE engine rebuild, or replacement with a 6 bolt engine). When the harmonic balancer was replaced, the mechanic may have noticed that the alterator belt did not line up properly (because of crankwalk) and put some washers under the pulley. Its not easy to put them between the two pulleys. Here's instant belt misalignment

best case: you have some wrong parts on the engine: eg the wrong water pump that still fits but misaligns the belts. PS pump from an earlier Eclipse.

I think you need to get the car to another garage that specializes in Mitsubishi turbos. Get the pulleys off and have the engine checked for crank walk. Other symptoms are difficulty changing gears and the crank angle sensor failing (actuallty being destroyed) .

Reply to
Stewart DIBBS

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