2 Belts in a week?
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Postmaster
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2 Belts in a week?
Well, after the fiasco i had last week with the rock in my tank i noticed my belt was bad. So i went to fords paid a cheap price of only 56$ for a new belt. Monday my truck had the rear u-joint strap bolts break and my driveshaft was laying on the ground. Okay get the the new straps and bolts and new ujoint. Take it for a drive, and i hear a ticking? I look and my new belt is shredding just like the old one did. Rib and rib at a time its getting smaller. The tensioner could not cause this correct? I cant afford to buy a belt every week.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2006
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From: Central, Al
Check your pulleys closely and make sure one does not have a bur or ding from a tool drop. Other than that Kris is dead on, might be time for a homeade stethoscope to pinpoint a noise you cant hear over the engine.
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2006
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Sure sounds like a pulley somewhere is not right. My wifes belt did the same thing, 2 belts in 3 weeks and then the idler pulley let go as she pulled in the driveway. Give a tug on the belt and see if a pulley shifts, like the water pump pulley, give the fan a shake see if there is alot of play in it. Just throwing ideas out there. Good Luck
Senior User
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From: East Wenatchee, WA
Does the belt only shred on one side? Meaning does it only shred from the front or from the back?? If that is the case you need to take the belt off and check all the pulleys for movement and play. It sounds like you have a tensioner or idler pulley going bad and causing the belt to "walk". When this happens the belt will start to shred on one side.
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Postmaster
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That is what is happening its shredding on one side only. I'm going to take a look at the pulleys tomorrow and if i don't see anything I'm going to replace the tensioner. My truck has had problem since i bought it. First right after i bought it the ball joints where bad. Then the rear end went out, then the trans went out. That happened with 4 months after i bought it. Then it was ok for about 4 months, and then the turbo, rock in fuel line, u-joints, belt, and now the dipstick tube where it goes into the oil pan is leaking. Knowing my current luck streak, the motor is probably dusted too so im currently trying to locate a cheap 7.3 block that i can rebuild in my garage so when dooms day hits, i will only have to put an engine in!
Smokin
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Just another quick point...while you are checking pulleys for play, also pay attention to how easy they turn. Bad pumps = hard to turn pulley = premature wear on your belt.
If you find one that is stiff and almost impossible to turn by hand, wobbles all over the place, or any other obvious play, its probably your culprit.
If you find one that is stiff and almost impossible to turn by hand, wobbles all over the place, or any other obvious play, its probably your culprit.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: Middle Tennessee
Well John, pull the belt and check the pulleys by hand, You can usually find a bad idler that way but the others are more difficult because you cannot load them by hand. Sometimes you get lucky though before just buying something.
Edit: well I see Lisa types faster and thinks alike on this.
Edit: well I see Lisa types faster and thinks alike on this.
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Senior User
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From: East Wenatchee, WA
Well John I think you will be on the right track with all the advise we have all given. If you go through belts like that I would say it should be pretty obvious once you get in there. Sorry to hear you have had so many problems with the truck. Seems that some of those problems are common, some are not. I know my truck needs ball joints soon. Just a fact of life with these trucks. Good luck and post what you found tomorrow.
Junior User
Joined: Jun 2005
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Hey John, my early 99 was doing the same thing. Mine was the tensioner. You could look at mine from the top of the engine and see that it was not running quite straight with the belt. Hope this helps. Later, Jamie
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Rio Rico, AZ.
I guess this bears repeating. 
Remove the belt from the pulleys and check them all, water pump, everything. Every one of them must be aligned and no wobble to them. The water pump can be a little stiff but only in the sense that you can feel the seal putting pressure on the back side of the impellor. It shouldn't completly freewheel like a bicycle wheel, but just a little tiny bit of resistance to it.
Remove the belt from the pulleys and check them all, water pump, everything. Every one of them must be aligned and no wobble to them. The water pump can be a little stiff but only in the sense that you can feel the seal putting pressure on the back side of the impellor. It shouldn't completly freewheel like a bicycle wheel, but just a little tiny bit of resistance to it.
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2004
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From: Houston, TX
I'm gonna be master of the obvious here... make sure the belt wasn't shifted by a groove.
Reason I ask is last time I replaced mine I wasn't paying attention and got it shifted toward the block by one groove. It ran fine for about a week and then started shredding.
I've got this little spot on my water pump that's about the size of a dime and thas has a real nice high polish finish on it -- that's where it was rubbing.
Reason I ask is last time I replaced mine I wasn't paying attention and got it shifted toward the block by one groove. It ran fine for about a week and then started shredding.
I've got this little spot on my water pump that's about the size of a dime and thas has a real nice high polish finish on it -- that's where it was rubbing.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Feb 2006
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oil tube leak is no good. There was a post not that long ago talking about that and international had a kit to try and fix this but if the kit didn't work you had to remove the engine to get the oil pan off and fix the leak. Sorry to hear all the bad luck
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Well i tighten that nut the holds the dipstick tube in. I tightened it a whole turn. Im going to get the tensioner right now and have it on hand in case i can't find anything else wrong, because i like to have things on hand before the stores close and i have to wait. 2 of my friends just in the past 3 months had to replace the tensioner and belt because of the same problem. Im going to check everything else before i start throwing parts at, because if i learned from last week to check everything first, because i thought for sure my fuel pump was bad, but it turned out to be just a rock in the line. Hopefully my luck (and my truck) gets better and when i send out for my oil analysis is says something to make me feel better. My friends also have these same trucks and they are not going through all the problems i am, so i know i think i just bought the truck from a bad previous owner who did NOT know maitenece. When i went to change the fuel filter, it was completely black. My buddy who is a diesel tech was there told me he never seen one that black before. We shall see if anything changes today.
Last edited by John311t; Jan 18, 2007 at 12:54 PM.
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Okay, so I got some good news! My oil leak is gone! That was scarin me because i did not want to pull the motor. Now, with the belt problem. All of the pulleys spin good except the tensioner pulley does not stay spinning like the alt, and idler does, and the PS pulley is moving in and out a tiny bit. There is no rubbing on the sides of the pulley though like the belt was jumping around between. There is no awkward noises. So the good news is, i only have one problem left the fix, the bad news/ question is, do i replace the tensioner because it does not spin like the rest, or do i investigate the ps pump. I know the ps pump is pricey, and already have the tensioner so what to do?