serpentine belt smoking- help

[er1cm]

I was driving the other day--- I see smoke coming from my hood... I immediately pull over. Pop the hood. My serpentine belt is hanging off.

I get it towed to my house--- I buy a new belt...

And just now I put it on--- was real easy, took me 2 minutes... I doublechecked everything.

I start it and everything seems to be working great... but then after 30 seconds, it starts smoking... I look at it and the rubber is melted to the tensioner...

I have no idea, why it did this to the old belt and now to the brand new one, too?

What does this mean? Is it a bad tensioner... and/or is one of my pulleys damaged?

Help... I'm stranded here with no car...

[cam98aro]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

well, take the belt off and try to spin all of the pulleys (minus the crank one) and see if they rotate freely

IIRC tensioners go bad a lot in these cars

[flamingchicken]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

x's 2 on everything he said. the only one that wont spin freely is the harmonic balancer, the rest should spin, there will be a little resistance on the water pump and power steering, but should spin relatively easy. the alt. compressor idler pully and tensioner should spin for days.

[StrtRacer98]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

My guess would be out of all the pulleys the tensioner locked up, when the car is running can you visibly see any pulleys not spinning?

[kristen]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

My guess would be out of all the pulleys the tensioner locked up, when the car is running can you visibly see any pulleys not spinning?

x4 only thing that could really cause this

[ssms5411]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

I have had my A/C go bad to where if I turned it off the belt would start smoking ,so I had to have the A/C on so the clutch on the A/C would spin. Thats the only problem I have had with a bad pulley not turning.

[er1cm]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

As per your guys' advice--- I manually tried moving the pulleys--- all spin freely...

So, it has to be the tensioner, right?

I purchased another new belt and a new tensioner just now...

I can't seem to get the tensioner bolt loose though--- the tensioner only moves down(obviously to allow the belt to fit around the pulleys) --- no matter how much force I exert--- I can't seem to loosen the tensioner bolt... is there a trick? Or should I just spray some penetration oil and try harder?

Also, there's some burned rubber on a few of the pulleys from the last belt I put on now... I tried removing it with my fingers, but it's stuck on there... anyone know any tricks/oil solutions to remove it?

Thanks for all your help, guys...

Btw, it's a '96 RS 3.8L

[ssms5411]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

Tensioner pulley is reverse thread so righty looesy and lefty tighty.LOL Did you try your A/C turning it on to see if it works fine when the A/C is on?

[StrtRacer98]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

Try using Goof Off product to take away the burnout marks on your pulleys.

[er1cm]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

I purchased (2) new tensioners and another new belt...

I manually tried turning the pulleys by hand... they turn relatively easily...

So, I took off the old (2) tensioners and put new ones on. And I put the new belt on now, too...

I ran the engine for a few seconds the first time, the belt slid off the top tensioner a little bit... so, I killed the engine... and put the belt back on again and double-checked everything was aligned...

I just ran it for 10 seconds... it seems to be making some sort of weird noise (which I can't pinpoint the location.) Anyways, before I put the new tensioners on, I blew a new belt... So, I want to be real careful this time so I don't blow another brand new belt ($25)

Any advice/ideas/tricks/tips or warning signs?

Thanks...

[ssms5411]

Re: serpentine belt smoking- help

Did you check your A/C, like I have said 3 times now, the clutch can go bad and the only time it will move freely is if the A/C is on, it happened on my 96" Camaro. Turn the A/C off and the compressor stops turning and the belt will start burning. I think you can replace just the clutch or buy a new compressor. Should be easy to check start the car with the A/C on and see if you have the same problem. If you just did the tensioner make sure it's not overtighten.