belt slip HELP!

[brink]

I was at the gas station tonight, after a fresh oil change that i just did at my house, breaking in the oil / filling up my tank and i putting fuel injector cleaner in.

I bought some belt dressing to stop the sqeeking on my car and my step dad's Z. It worked great for his car and the sqeeking went right away.

My belt has slipped off before when i had a antifreeze leak, but since its been fixed it hasnt.

I sprayed the belt dressing on the grooved pulley and bam, i saw a blue spark and my belt was off, i quickly jumped in my car and turned it off.. I got a wrench and put the belt back on but there were scratches on the tension pulley.. and i noticed that the belt if half way off the pulley driving home..

I'm going to buy a new belt tomorrow to see if maybe it was just warped from high milage (136,000). But if not, how much / how hard would it be to replace my tension pulley? (not sure if thats the proper name, right under the alternator). Now that it has these 'scratches' in it, its making a horrible sound, more then a sqeek, err! I'll see if the belt helps, but please link me about the pulley!

[xX315Xx]

I've always been told never to put belt dressing on a serpentine style (ribbed) belt. I've never really asked why, but as far as i know, you are only supposed to use it on v belts

[1DangerousV6]

a new belt should do it..but if not..its very easy to change the pulley..just unbolt the old one and bolt the new one on (the threading is reversed)

[shenanigans]

Its likely the tensionor, before you buy a new belt go out to the tensionor and see if you can push it down. It should be impossible to push down by hand, and alot of tension with a wrench.

When I my tensionor went out on my 94, I was able to take my belt on and off without any tools. But I am a big guy.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally posted by shenanigans:
Its likely the tensionor, before you buy a new belt go out to the tensionor and see if you can push it down. It should be impossible to push down by hand, and alot of tension with a wrench.

When I my tensionor went out on my 94, I was able to take my belt on and off without any tools. But I am a big guy.

Goliath here speaks the truth...

[brink]

well i bought a new belt, and no i couldnt push the pulley down my hand at all, and it was hard to by wrench..

But the belt is still riding off the tenionser pulley like its on 3/4 of the way, but off 1/4 is this normal? Maybe the pulley is somehow to close to the motor?

[shenanigans]

Do anything with your pulleys recently to mis-align them somehow?

[zlexiss]

Yah, sounds like something got bent - check the tensioner and the pulleys on either side.

Belt dressing is bad news, only a temp fix. Never liked it. If I have a slipping belt, I clean things. Take the belt off and wipe off all the pulleys with an acetone-soaked rag or spray with throttle cleaner (but not carb cleaner, since some leave a lubricating film). Then do the same for the belt unless you're putting a brand new one on. While the belt is off, make sure all the pulleys spin freely.

[Red]

would rubbing alcohol work to clean them, because i guess it doesnt leave a film, or should you just get something from the auto store?

[Red]

also, brink,didnt you have a problem with the coolant making the belt fly off before?

if that was you then maybe the belt was stretched or warped either that time (which helped it come off again) or this time.

[brink]

Ya that was me, the antifreeze knocked it right off... It was much harder to get the new one on, it was smaller so i guess the other had been warped.

I bought the cheapest one because im cool, the gatorback for 25$ didnt look to appealing, so i went with the Value whatever one. lmao.

Guy @ autozone: The gatorback will last much longer.

Torre: I'll take the 15$ one.