Belt & tensioner failure

Had an interesting episode with the serpentine belt today and thought it might help others to share it...

97 Explorer sport with about 110K on it. The last couple times I have parked it in the garage, there has been a distinct odor of hot rubber. I mostly ignored the smell (bad move) 'cause I couldn't imagine what was causing it since the tires looked ok. Anyway, a high pitched squealing started today at high RPM and the voltmeter dropped to the bottom of the run range. Those two symptoms canceled the trip to HomeDepot...

I found the belt tensioner had rotated around so that the idler sheave was above the tensioner mount. Evidently the serp. belt had stretched enough to allow the tensioner to rotate "over center" so it couldn't apply any tension. The serp belt stayed on and drove the water pump, power steering, and AC compressor. The belt was a Dayco I had changed about 70K ago. The belt shows no damage, cracks, or even much wear. It doesn't seem possible that the darn thing stretched that much but how else could the tensioner "flip around"?

Anyway, replaced the tensioner and belt and the Exp is back to normal. The old tensioner's spring body halves were no longer square with each other so replacement seemed in order.

So, to make a long story short, if you smell hot rubber, don't hesitate to look at the serpentine belt.

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Clark
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