What's eating my serpentine belts?

Question

Looking for some help with a "s" belt problem. Had one break, replaced it, got about 3 miles down the road and the new one self-destructed.

Truck is a 1998 Silverado 4x4 w/the 5.0L fi engine. I know IO had the right replacement belt and I double checked the routing against the routing diagram on the radiator shroud, all looked good. No problem with the tensioner, working as it should.

Wondering about the very top "wheel." If you look straight on at the engine at the verfy top the belt runs under what just looks like soem kind of round guide. But it doesn't spin or flex. Not sure what it's purpose is but the belt aas running tight up against it. Shouldn't this have been spinning as well? Otherwise it was just a big friction poin that could be the point of failure. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Mike

Cross posted.

trevor274 · Accepted Answer

Happened to me once before but my a/c was screwed up and the wheel wouldnot turn causing belts to tear up. Not sure but worth a check.

Chevrolet · Answer

check idler pulley.. even though it may look straight and make no noise.. it could be screwed and it draws the belt all over.. OR the AC compressor... best way is to start the engine and look while it is running to see if the belt is true. THEN if all looks okay.. turn on the ac and see if it engages or is seized

Meat Plow · Answer

Your belt shouldn't touch any non-spinning surface.

Whitelightning · Answer

It's an idler pulley and its supposed to spin freelyWhitelightning

Chevrolet · Answer

wow... never thought of that :) I was thinking of grabbing on to the belt while the truck was running and seing where my hand gets cut.. HA!!!

Meat Plow · Answer

Some sort of "round guide" that doesn't spin or flex = frozen idler wheel.

Ashton Crusher · Answer

That's just a stop to keep it from flapping around too crazily at certain speeds but it should hardly ever actually touch it. If your belt is solid against it then you are not routing the belt correctly.

Mark Schooley · Answer

Sounds like a seized idler pulley.  That "wheel" should spin freely.

CENR · Answer

I recently had the same problem. I found that a bolt  on the big one piecepulley bracket, (that all of the accesories attach to) was missing.  TheTake a close look at all of the bolts that connect that main bracket onthe front of the engine to the block.  You might find that a few of themare loose or possible missing.  Without all those bolts in place the forceof the tensioner will cause the bracket to bend and the pulleys will notline up properly.

AWN · Answer

I'm sure it's obvious and might have been mentoined earlier but I had the same issue when my idler pulley was 'sticky'. I guess it had a bad or failing bearing so sometimes it would stick and other times it would spin. At any rate, it cost me 2 belts and a new idler to get it all sorted. That idler pulley was very cheap (I was going to press a new bearing into the casing but the pricing was about the same either way). Also... check the "'" marks on the tensioner - they should be pretty close to each other otherwise the tensioner isn't functioning properly (the range indicator should be visible and self-explanatory).

I hope this helps. Andrew.

in article snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkabouttrucks.com, CENR at snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote on 6/12/07 1:37 AM:

What's eating my serpentine belts?

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