The serpentine belt on a 1990 Plymouth Grand Voyager (VAN is causing a lot of problems for a very special friend. She is a single mother on a limited budget and her job is now in jeopardy because of this problem as she has been late for work several times due to it. She lives several hundred miles from me so I am unable to check her van.
The tension pulley and the belt have both been replaced but the belt keeps coming off especially in wet weather.
Her pastor helped her get this car and he has stood behind it many times but it is humanly impossible for him to be there all of the time to get her to work when it does come off. We all firmly believe that God does indeed answer prayers through other people and I am sure someone here does have the answer for us. For those reading this that do know the Lord, we are confident that you are adding your prayer to help resolve this problem.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
The belt doesn't just come off. There has to be a reason. I would double check the belt part number to be sure it is the correct belt. The belt may be installed incorrectly. However, there is usually a diagram of the correct installation somewhere under the hood of the vehicle. The tensioner was also replaced... By whom?
Another possibility is that the Alternator, Air Conditioning compressor, power steering, air pump, or the pulley on the crank could be bent or loose. One would need to know when the belt started coming off and what has been done since.
Thank you, thank you, very much, Yaa.
She needs to checks the alignment of the pulleys...are they in line with each other, is the tensioner working? Is the belt installed properly, does this only happen with the AC goes on? Even in wimter the AC will cycle on the remove moisture during defrost mode. Is it the right belt. Check to see if the AC pulley is loose ie. wobbles
Some times the crankshaft pulley will have too much 'end play' (the crankshaft moves in and out of the motor slightly) causing the belt to ride up and off the pulley.
Feel free to e-mail me with any more info you come accross.
doc
Download this PDF file from Gates, one of the major belt manufacturers. It gives a lot of good advice for figuring out problems with serpentine belts.
http://www.gates.com/europe/downloads/download_com...
Here also is a very good article on replacement and troubleshooting:
http://autorepair.about.com/library/weekly/aa07120...
No, have your mechanic friend to come to you. For the belt to just fall off, chances are that it is the belt tensioner is bad. Being the belt has already fallen off, replace the tensioner along with a new belt.
call dodge this is a very common problem with the grand voyager there is even a tsb on this problem i beleive the problem is the idler pulley