Archived Serpintine belt delaminating...Advice please on how to remove; can't be driven.

[DDiMarco]

The serpentine belt on my 04. 5 with 4K has jumped a groove on the top idler pulley and the outermost lamination (groove) has started to seperate from the belt. It's flailing around and can't be driven. I don't want some 18 yr old kid with a wrecker towing my truck 15 miles to the dealer. What component(s) have to be loosened to provide enough slack to get the belt off? Is the tensioner sufficient? There appears to be only one bolt on the tensioner. I believe this occurred because I drove the truck SLOWLY in 4WD LO on pavement for about 10 ft in a turn. Needless to say the tire scrub reminded me that I was in 4WD and stopped immediately. I think the power steering pump objected an shook sufficiently to toss the belt one groove... . that is speculation, not fact. I'd like to get this done tomorrow before the low-teens weather hits early next week here in CT. Thanks in advance.

 

[chriscumminsdiesel]

You should be able to just move the belt tensioner. Can't remember if that year takes 3/8 or 1/2 ratchet in hole.

 

[DieselTweaker]

should be 3/8

 

[Tom W]

You don't need to loosen anything. Use a long breaker bar to move the belt tensioner to relax the belt. Very easy to do, just make sure you get the new belt on properly.

 

[swexlin]

I believe this occurred because I drove the truck SLOWLY in 4WD LO on pavement for about 10 ft in a turn. Needless to say the tire scrub reminded me that I was in 4WD and stopped immediately.

I doubt it. Welcome (sadly) to the club with those of us with 04. 5s whose belts have thrown. Mine occured at about 5400 miles without warning. I posted about it, and SEVERAL of us with 04. 5s have had this happen. I'll dig up my past post and try to link it. My dealer said "defective belt". Yeah, right. In 25 years of driving many new and used cars and trucks, I have never had a belt fail on a stock vehicle, YET, so when several people post that this happens with relatively new, same-model vehicles, something is amiss.



I now check the belt once a week. 3000 miles later (knock wood) it looks OK so far.



On edit: here is ANOTHER guy's thread, and the link to my thread is in this one:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112695

 

[Yo Hoot]

It is possible that there was a bad batch of belts. Scott if you never throw another I would think that was the case. It also would explain why there are no real mechanical solutions or related defects.

 

[DDiMarco]

Thanks for the responses....12 deg and still dropping, I'll deal with it tomorrow!

Thanks for the comments everyone. I loosened the 1/2 in bolt after shredding the back of my hand on the fan and, as I suspected, I couldn't budge the tensioner. When you don't have any manuals and limited information, you experiment. There must be a 500# spring on that tensioner; I pulled on it as hard as I could and barely moved it a fraction of an inch. I'll investigate the pry bar approach; there doesn't seem to be ahelluva lot of room for that with the fan shroud being so close. I am glad and disgusted at the same time; it appears that others are having the same problem. I didn't think that a small error like 4WD in a turn for about 10 ft should freak out the power steering pump and dislodge the belt. I've lost the weather battle; even though the truck is garaged, I'm not about to deal with it this morning. 12 deg and dropping! FYI, this is my second issue with this truck; I had the drivers-side door lock actuator fail at 1. 5K.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

You shouldn't have to loosen any bolt. Look on the arm of the tensioner - you'll see a square hole which is where you stick your socket wrench in. Just use the socket wrench and slip a pipe over the handle and you should easily be able to pull the tension off the belt and slip it off. You don't need to have your hand down by the fan at all - The pipe should be sticking up above the hood compartment where you have plenty of room to move around. You can slip the belt off of any of the pulleys.

 

[swexlin]

Thanks for the responses... . 12 deg and still dropping, I'll deal with it tomorrow!

Please keep us updated when you know something. Just post it in the 3rd Gen Engine forum.



Thanks.

 

[DDiMarco]

End of saga, serp belt removal

Per request of Swexlin, "end of saga, serp belt removal" posted in 3rd gen eng/trans. Thanks to Steve St Laurent and all.

 

[DDiMarco]

I need to clean my glasses...........the light bulb just went on.

Kill me now! EVERYONE had the same, correct advice. Rachet, breaker bar... ... . DUH! I misunderstood the initial advice and thought "socket," not "drive. " I've never had a vehicle with a spring loaded, non-adjustable tensioner so I just don't know any better. Steve's response put the pieces together but ALL you guys were spot-on.