05 drive belt

[Chaw]

Almost had another dive belt come off the truck tonight. I noticed a whine when I started and drove away. It got louder and I shut down the engine. It was about 1/2 the way off the alternator. The truck now has 18,500 on it. The first belt came off at 7K miles.



Seems there was allot of talk about this problem a few months ago and now it has been quiet. My 1st and 2nd problem has been when the truck was restarted. I believe it may be jumping off the pulley at shut down. I am wondering if the tensioner is applying the proper load to the belt. I have kind of ruled out pulley alignment since the belt condition seems ok.



Ideas??

 

[swexlin]

Yes, you are correct, some of us have had shredded belts, but it has been quiet lately.



My original shredded at 5400 miles, now with over 17,000, it has been OK (knock wood), but I check it at least once a week.



Mine, and many others, were never diagnosed with a problem by the dealer, we just got new belts, and were sent on our way. I would say your dealer should certainly replace your tensioner, and check pulley alignment.

 

[JayB]

Mine shredded at 50 miles, the second belt is still on at 10,000. Jeff

 

[swexlin]

Chaw, any update for us?

 

[Chaw]

I have not driven the truck since Thanksgiving night. I did fire it up this am and did a check of the belt and it is on all of the pulleys fine. I did find it was it was very easy to depress the belt and the tensioner with 1 finger. I believe my tensioner is the problem. Pulley alignment sure looks ok.



I believe at shut down, the engine may attempt to roll back just a bit and throw the belt off. Both times I have had a problem, it has been on a restart.



It is such a pain going to the dealer.

 

[swexlin]

I did find it was it was very easy to depress the belt and the tensioner with 1 finger. I believe my tensioner is the problem. Pulley alignment sure looks ok.

I agree, sounds like a new tensioner is in order.

 

[Cattletrkr]

A friend of a friend just had his tensioner blow up on him. Sounds like there might be an issue here. His is '05 also.



Oh, one more thing...

Almost had another drive belt come off the truck tonight.

... ummm, errr, drive belt??? :-laf

 

[10-9jc]

Belt Brand?

Seems there were some post/s - as I recall - recommending

"Gatorback" (?) from AutoZone (?) as better than the D/C belt.

Maybe a search will turn that up - maybe I wrote it down

somewhere . . . . .

JC

 

[swexlin]

Gatorbacks sometimes reduce the "chirp". FWIW, the Mopar replacement belt that was put on mine produces less chirp than the one that shredded.



I think mine, and some others, were installed wrong. There is no room for error on these things, and if yours was the umpteenth down the line that day, and the worker was a bit tired, well, you see what I mean.

 

[mardela]

Mine started shredding at 3K miles. Dealer replaced belt as well as tensioner. They said it was a common problem and were waiting for a partial recall. Mine was not in stock and had to be ordered because it is a controlled part. If your truck shutters hard when you shut it offn and you here a loud chirp, you probably need the belt tensioer replaced. Since they replaced mine, belt is fine, no shutter or chirp.

 

[swexlin]

Mine started shredding at 3K miles. Dealer replaced belt as well as tensioner. They said it was a common problem and were waiting for a partial recall

That's interesting. In ALL of the shredded belt threads here and over on DTR, I can only remember one other guy having the dealer diagnose the tensioner. The rest of us got new belts, and were sent on our way, with diagnoses like:



1. defective belt (yeah right, maybe one in a zillion, but not this many) or:

2. installed wrong (more likely)



Mine went at 5400 miles, and now (knock wood) the replacement is OK at 17,000+ miles. However, when mine happened in August 2004 (and by this time some others had gone) two different dealers I spoke with (my selling dealer, and my long time dealer where I did not buy the truck) claimed they had never heard of the problem.

If your truck shutters hard when you shut it offn and you here a loud chirp, you probably need the belt tensioer replaced. Since they replaced mine, belt is fine, no shutter or chirp.

Well, not entirely true. SOME chirping is a diesel characteristic - Ford, Chevy, Dodge, the all do it to some degree. My Ford PSD was horrible, and, like you said, the ORIGINAL belt that shredded on this truck chirped badly. The REPLACMENT does so only sometimes (maybe 30-40% of the time). The replacement is also crosshatched AND ribbed, while the stocker was only ribbed.



Good information, thanks.

 

[Chaw]

Mardela,



You are correct. I took the truck in today and they said it was the tensioner. It is a star controlled part and will be here tomorrow. I could move my belt/tensoiner with 1 finger.

 

[swexlin]

Chaw, thanks for the update. Glad they actually are fixing the problem. IF mine goes again, I'm going to INSIST they replace the tensioner as well.



By the way - if your tensioner was bad, why did it take 11,000 miles for the belt to start to go again?. Shouldn't it have gone much sooner than that? That makes me nervous about mine.

 

[Chaw]

I believe the bad tensioner is a hit and miss deal. I think it has to do with the way the engine shuts down; sometimes smooth - sometimes allot of shake and perhaps a small backwards roll. Since my belt came 1/2 the way off Thanksgiving day, I have put 500 miles on it before taking to the dealer today with the same belt.

 

[EGroeneveld]

When I took my truck in for its first oil change at about 3,000 miles. The dealer, Whitnell Dodge in Salem, OR found the belt had started to shred. They replaced the tensioner and the belt under warranty. They had to keep the truck overnight. I am now up to 20,000 miles with no new problems.

 

[swexlin]

When I took my truck in for its first oil change at about 3,000 miles. The dealer, Whitnell Dodge in Salem, OR found the belt had started to shred. They replaced the tensioner and the belt under warranty

I wish my dealer had. Now, at 17,700 miles, no further issues, but, as I said, I don't trust it.



It is interesting that whenever one of the belt threads gets started either here or on DTR, a few new people chime in to state that this has happened to them.



I wish Dodge would issue a TSB for this.