[Guest]

Ok, doesnt make sense. The past 3 days, I drive my truck for about a half hour, everying is good, gagues, temps, drivability, etc. I get to my destination, turn off the truck and then I come back a couple hours later. I then turn on the truck, and its squealing, i lift the hood, and the belt came off the power steering pulley, its just sitting off to the side. its done this 3 times in the past 3 days. So of corse, I thought it was the tensioner. I went and bought a new setup, put it on, everything seemed great, until it did it again, TWICE. so im thinking belt, well the belt is in MINT condition. pretty much brand new. and yes, its the right belt. What in the world is causing the belt to slip off after I turn off the truck after driving for awhile? The belt does not come off right away either, because I have my friend turn off the truck while im watching the belt, and it turns off fine, and the tensioner does its job. The belt is tight and everything, then I come back 2 hours later and its off. This doesnt make sense. The belt is very tight, and the tensioner is working, you can see it while its running. but for some reason it keeps coming off. Im wondering if the belt is stretching because of the constant 105 degree weather, but still, the belt is in mint shape. Please reply and let me know what you think it is, it doesnt make sense, and it just started a couple days ago. Thanx guys. please keep the replies coming, I need them, I dont want to get stranded.

nate

 

[Steve83]

Belts don't stretch significantly, but even if it did, your tensioner would keep the tension on it.

With the engine running, watch the belt closely at EVERY pulley - one of them is probbly wobbly.

I think there's an idler pulley on that engine, and it may be the culprit.

 

[Shorts]

yup, definitely check for a wobbly pulley. also check your brackets and make sure all are snug...no loose bolts.

 

[Guest]

Well I did what you said, nothing is wobbly except the idiler pulley, but thats just because it is jiggling back and forth to make tension. all brackets are tight, and pulleys are stright. anything else it can be? and remember, the belt doesnt come off until after the truck is turned off. thanx for the replies, keep them coming please so i can find the culprit and fix it

nate

 

[454]

The idler pulley shouldn't move at all.

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[Guest]

im meaning the whole tensioner, not the pulley itself. Sorry, I didnt explain very well. eveyrthing looks very tight and snug. but why would the belt come off after the truck is off? thats the weird thign about it

nate

 

[1378]

When you say the belt is squealing it makes me think maybe one of the accesories is binding or seazing up and knocking the belt off. Next time it falls off grab each of the pullies and make sure they are rotating freely. Power steering, alt, water pump, AC, Idler etc.
Good luck, Brian.

 

[Guest]

i was just explaining what happens. the reason it was squealing is because the belt was sitting on the wrong side of the power steering pulley (belt was way loose) thats why it was squealing, all the pulleys turn nice and free.

nate

 

[330]

You mean you drive the truck = everything is OK
you stop and check the belt = everything is OK
you go to take off but before starting the truck you look and the belt is OFF???? the belt came off with out the truck running??????? I have NEVER heard of a belt coming off when the truck is not running

or are you saying after the truck sits for awhile you restart it and the belt comes off right?

Anyway my GUESS is your compressor clutch is screwed up and occasionally locks up. which throws the belt. My truck did this for awhile before I figured it out I would put on a new belt and a few weeks later bang it would come off but all the pullys lined up and spun well until finaly the compressor clutch discolored and I knew it was shot
I bought a belt for the same truck without ac and have not had a problem since but I don't have AC and I don't have the money to fix it yet (probably have the money by November

)

 

[Guest]

You mean you drive the truck = everything is OK - YEP
you stop and check the belt = everything is OK - YEP
you go to take off but before starting the truck you look and the belt is OFF???? the belt came off with out the truck running??????? I have NEVER heard of a belt coming off when the truck is not running - I SWEAR IT DOES!! right when I turn the key, its whining, its like the belt is off before the truck even starts. like it slides off. I need to start checking the belts every time before I start it up, but i swear it sounds weird, but it seems like the belts off before the truck starts, like it oozes off over a 2 hour period or something. maybe your right, maybe its coming off when I start the truck. The AC system is BRAND new, its probably 3 months old, and ive never had a problem with it before. keep em coming guys. thansk a bunch. we will figure this out sooner or later.

nate

 

[330]

I bet one of the pulley's is heating up, while your driving.
You stop and turn off the engine and it locks up.
You start up the engine, it throws the belt and breaks the pulley free.
Look for discoloration on all the pulleys. and feel them when you stop, I bet one is hotter than the rest!

 

[Guest]

it comes off of the exact same pulley every time. The belt is supposed to go to the left of the power steering pulley, and every time it comes off that pulley and sits to the right of it, but the pulley turns freely, i played with it last time it did it.

nate

 

[1059]

Now this is just a wild guess here, I'm not very automotive literate

But is it possible that the belt is too tight? Maybe as the belt cools it contracts and there is too much tension on it so it slids off a pully. I dunno, again this is just a guess.

 

[Steve83]

Contraction

Fiberglass-reinforced vulcanized rubber just doesn't expand or contract enough to notice over a 140" belt. Even aluminum would barely swell or shrink over that distance.

 

[686]

Its quite simple. You have nothing to do one day. You drive your truck for half an hour and then get a book, sit on the fender and watch. If it doesnt come off after 2-3 hours then you get someone to start your truck and see whats the problem.

 

[Guest]

belt is dry right, isn' t like you have a leak in the bottom of the water pump through the weephole and thats causing the belt to slip off......

 

[1134]

I had problems with the serpentine system before, it was wierd too. It turned out that my harmonic balencer had gone bad and it started to come loose from the crank. I had belts just fly off (at 7000 rpm) and shred in the flex fan. I didn't realize the problem untill it was too late and the balencer broke the keyway out of the crank. Turned out the balancer couldn't handle the rpms of the motor......guess I'm rambling, but here is a few things to check,,,,buy the way, the tensioner will jump up and down when somethings wrong or sticky
1) crank pully too balancer too crank
2) power steering pully to pump, should be flush (very easy to bend if ya pry on it)
3) make sure the compressor pully spins very freely and doesn't have any hard spots, I've bought em with bad bearings before
4) notice any antifreeze, water pumps will keep ya guessing till they just go.
5)alt too, how much of a load are ya putting on the alt

 

[Guest]

alternator is a couple months old. The tensioner is sure going back and forth like crazy while the truck is running, it doesnt like to stay at a steady rate at all. does that help anything?

nate

 

[1134]

one of the pulleys is off center, coming out (miss alighned), or sticking. Check all that I showed in that post, and make sure everything is spinning freely

 

[Guest]

K, I will take belt off tonight, check everything and let you guys know what I find out. Hopefully its something simple. Hopefully the harmonic balancer and stuff like that isnt going out on me.

nate