Originally Posted by Ccmano (Post 294094)

Bearing failure?
H
:cheers:

Originally Posted by Ccmano (Post 294098)

Judging from the hole in the pulley (which is aluminum) looks like it froze and the belt wore a hole in it, might be the source of your silvery residue?
H
:cheers:

Originally Posted by Ccmano (Post 294098)

Judging from the hole in the pulley (which is aluminum) looks like it froze and the belt wore a hole in it, might be the source of your silvery residue?
H
:cheers:

Originally Posted by Locobob (Post 294183)

One of the symptoms I had was periodic low voltage at idle. Sometimes I'd be sitting at a red light and the voltage would drop down to like 8-9 and the stereo would shut down. It was an intermittent issue and my thought was this was due to belt slippage, possibly from my leaky A/C system. I had my alternator rebuilt a while back and that made no difference so I eliminated that as the possible source. Now I'm thinking maybe it was the pulley occasionally seizing up and dragging down the belt speed at idle. Guess we'll see once I get that replaced.

Originally Posted by Locobob (Post 294095)

I have been noticing a silvery oily residue under the air horn and around the general vicinity of the belt. Although I think that is from a leak in the A/C system which is another area I need to address and that could also account for belt slippage.

Originally Posted by Dynomite (Post 294191)

Was anything leaking on the serpentine belt?
How many miles on your Tensioner Aluminum Pulley?
Did you modify the Tensioner when you installed the Pulley?

I checked three Belt Tensioner Aluminum Pulley Installations and all is well.
One Tensioner pulley with 6,000 miles. I removed the 6,000 mile Tensioner Aluminum Pulley and checked the bearing which was found had no play and very smooth when rotated.



What is that all about?
Belts and oil do not mix :p
The problem of an oily belt would be between the belt and the Harmonic Balancer driving the belt and Alternator Pulley, Power Steering Pulley, Water Pump Pulley, AC Pulley getting power from the belt.

Check the Bearing and what is meaning of oily residue?
Even if the belt was oily the Tensioner Aluminum Pulley is free wheeling so I would expect no issues. Spin the Tensioner Aluminum Pulley before you remove the Tensioner to see if any play, resistance, interference.

Originally Posted by Locobob (Post 294196)

I rebuilt the tensioner and installed the pulley about 2 1/2 years ago... probably about 10-15K miles. The belt itself doesn't feel oily so we'll see.
Do you have the same aluminum pulley? Could be I just got unlucky and got a bad one.

Originally Posted by Dynomite (Post 294201)

I think I have the same pulley and someone here said Jim had failure of same pulley but am not sure of that. Did you modify the tensioner for installation of the pulley?

We have to wait to see what you find when you remove the Tensioner.
Before you remove the Tensioner check the Pulley to see if any play, resistance, interference.

The Serpentine Belt is just a bit narrower than the riding surface on the pulley (check that surface for wear compared to the original surface).

It could be a fatigue crack between spokes as Phil Suggests.

Originally Posted by QB93Z (Post 294208)

Thanks for posting the picture Charlie. And thanks to Charlie and Dan for retrieving all the tools I dropped in front of the engine while doing the repair.

My failure was a frozen bearing on a stock, plastic pulley with at least 60,000 miles on it. I have not changed it since I bought the car. This is the second stock pulley bearing I have had fail. The first was on my 1990 ZR-1 and was a few years ago.

This is why I carry a spare pulley and belt when I travel. The repair is straight forward and I can get back on the road easily. It helps to have a long 18mm combination (open end-box end) wrench to reach the tensioner bolt. It is harder to get the bolt with a socket wrench.

The only problem is the engine is HOT and I got a couple of burns this time. Even with gloves on, you have to reach in among the coolant piping. I have added heat resistant sleeves to my travel tool box.

Jim

Originally Posted by QB93Z (Post 294208)

My failure was a frozen bearing on a stock, plastic pulley with at least 60,000 miles on it. I have not changed it since I bought the car. This is the second stock pulley bearing I have had fail. The first was on my 1990 ZR-1 and was a few years ago.

This is why I carry a spare pulley and belt when I travel.
Jim

Originally Posted by Paul Workman (Post 294214)

Hmmmm... Thanks 4 the tip, Jim! I carry a belt - never thought about a pulley. (Course...where does it end?? (spare parts, I mean...)

Originally Posted by Dynomite (Post 294216)

You can preventively maintain it at home or carry spare parts on the road :p

Originally Posted by Locobob (Post 294224)

Well I pulled the belt off and the pulley seems to spin freely by hand... although that doesn't mean it doesn't perform differently under load. The belt doesn't look terrible, its a little chewed up in a couple of spots. I need to check my notes for the belt size, I have the underdrive pulley set from SRP. I have Gates and Dayco pulleys available locally. I believe Gates is supposed to be the gold standard but with all the outsourcing going on who knows anymore. I did rebuild the tensioner a few years ago because it was chattering badly, I haven't seen any sign of it bouncing around since so I'm guessing that part of the assembly is okay.

Originally Posted by Dynomite (Post 294225)

Did you modify the Tensioner such that the pulley inner hub was not in contact with the tensioner at any place? Take a close up photo of the Aluminum Pulley belt surface. Also a close up photo of the failed surface.

Was the Pulley Bearing Snap Ring on the outside or toward the engine?

Originally Posted by Locobob (Post 294226)

I'll have to take a look at that once I get the tensioner out. I don't recall any modification being necessary.

Originally Posted by Dynomite (Post 294227)

Originally Posted by Locobob (Post 294228)

Now that I think about it I may have done that... looks familiar, I think I may have used my die grinder and a sanding drum and beveled that edge

Originally Posted by Dynomite (Post 294237)

If you did that (used die grinder on interference issue) and the bearing is fine now.......we are back to Phil's suggestion (Fatigue). Or..........."your combination of stuff" rebuilt Tensioner.

It sounds from your description that the Serpentine belt was very loose toward the end which means the pulley was not held tight against the belt. But the pulley could spin freely? Maybe you should go back to the "factory Serpentine Belt Tensioner".

Originally Posted by Locobob;294244[B

[/B]]No the belt was nice and tight, I removed the belt before spinning the pulley. It spins without a load on it but that doesn't mean it would do the same under load. I rebuilt the tensioner about 2 1/2 years ago using the original, some L98 parts, and the aftermarket aluminum pulley. Hopefully that makes it clearer.

Originally Posted by HAWAIIZR-1 (Post 294495)

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I did check mine out last week after you posted and it seems okay. I’ll keep an eye on it just in case.


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Originally Posted by HAWAIIZR-1 (Post 294529)

Locobob and Dynomite,



I guess the moral of the story is to leave sh#t alone!!!


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