Hi,
I have a 1989 F-150 with a 300-6 engine. While driving today,I all of a sudden noticed my power steering is gone and then the temp starts rising,ok I've lost my belt and pull over before the engine gets hot. Open the hood and the belt is totally trashed! Call my wife go to the Auto Zone get new belt antifreeze go back install and have wifey turn it over while I watch. Oh yea before putting on belt checked all the pullys on AC PW Air pump Water,ect. Everything turns? Wife starts truck runs great take truck back home (5 miles) no problem??? Anybody have any ideas on why the belt got trashed.Oh yea belt was new,replaced idler pully a month ago! Any ideas? Thanks!

 

Was the shredded belt a cheap replacement? I got a Bravo serpentine belt at car quest once and it lost some chunks out of the ribs within the week, when I say chunks i mean portions of the outer ribs were missing in some places, not just little chips of rubber that come with normal wear. I went and bought a gatorback belt at auto zone and it has been on there for two years. It cost about $35 versus the $20 for the bravo belt.

 

Hi Pimp,
The belt that shredded WAS a gatorback! Go figure???

 

check both pulleys for cracks. sometimes that will do it.

 

check both pulleys for cracks. sometimes that will do it.

Ok, which pulleys? Motor(drive),AC,PS,Air Pump,Alt. Do you mean the pully has a crack or roughnes on the pully it's self?

 

Check alignment on your pulleys. And make sure every thing is tight.

 

I have seen the belts 'chewed' up when a pulley has the outsdie flange bent in towards the grooves.

Roger

 

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the help on this! As an update I took the belt back off and turned all the pullys again and noticed the Water pump was a little stiff,so took off fan and WP pully and removed some pieces of belt caught around the WP shaft. I don'y think this was the original problem but I had a belt shred a month ago because of the air pump went bad. So everything is running but I still don't know why the Gatorback blew??? Might swing by my mechanics shop and see what he thinks? I try to do the easier stuff on my truck but he works on these everyday and there's nothing like experience! Thanks again!

 

did you try pulling on the water pump pulley on its axis, not just spinning it.

mine had a bad bearing and was very hard to tell, it did not weep or make noise, but it jiggled just enough to tear up belts.

 

Hi Quick,
Yes actually I did pull on it and try it that way after I pulled some of the old belt out. Everything seems tight as far as the bearings went. Thanks for the help!

 

Hi,
OK,maybe I found it! I told Quick that I had checked the fore and aft motion on the WP which I did,but I got to thinking,I didnt on anything else only if the pulleys would free spin. So I went and took the belt off again and when I tested the PS pully it's got about a good 3/16" or more fore and aft play. Could this be enough to wast a belt in a month time and thats not right for a PS pump anyway,is it??? I think I'll replace it tomorrow just on general principles! Thanks!

 

Yes, that enough to throw one. Should be next to nothing.

 

Hi Blue,
Yea I'm going to NAPA first thing and change this thing out. Hopefully that was the problem. These serpentine belts at $30 a whack is getting tiresome! Thanks!

 

I always wire brush the pulley grooves. Sometimes residue gets built up in there, the old belt ribs will fit because they're worn down. The new belts sharp ribs will create a bad shifting problem and premature failure of the belt.

Jim

 

Thanks Bigfoot,
Thats something I can do tomorrow when I change out the pump. There seems to be a lot of things that can cause problems with these belts way beyond the obvious but with everyones help here I'm smarter than I was! Thanks again!