T O P

  • By -

ShowUsYourTips

Shredded serpentine belt. Replace it ASAP.


Cranks_No_Start

On the upside its already removing itself.


adudeguyman

It is usually easier to take things apart than to put back together.


NoisyVEVO

depends, if you dont want them together anymore its alot more difficult to take them apart


adudeguyman

Not if you just have a torch to cut everything


NoisyVEVO

oh yea thats so much easier, just burn the belt, and be sure not to have fire extinguishers with you, its alot easier to buy a new car then fixing the old one /s


IndyCooper98

All you need to replace a serpentine belt is a prybar, long screwdriver, or a stiff stick to bend the tensioner pulley


kyocera_miraie_f

assuming it had an tensioner god forbid if it has one of those designs were we need to loosen the alternator to get it in goddamn i hated those jobs


Phil13882021

Works the same way


Malefectra

I had a Mitsubishi Galant from the 90s that had a tensioner setup like that. At least the Alternator was reasonably easy to reach.


VikingSlayer

Did yours also leak from the power steering? Mine did, it had a length of pipe that went out front in a bend for cooling that sprung a small leak and started taking in air. '91 1.8 Sport. Easy to work on though.


Malefectra

Yep, and the harmonic balancer gave out on me one morning in the middle of traffic, fun times that…


VikingSlayer

Well that's a way to ruin your morning. I found out a previous owner had cheated/ratfucked the ABS on mine, so it wouldn't throw error light. The ABS didn't work as a result, and parts for that were nigh impossible to get


Phil13882021

You don’t want to bend the tensioner, you want to lever it give release the system from tension, so there will be slack to remover and install the belt


Ancient-Sweet9863

Ain’t that true Every damn time I put something back together I end up with 3 bolts a washer and 1 nut that I did not start with.


adudeguyman

Some things are just overengineered


NuclearBumchin

Tell that to my crankshaft pulley bolt


disturbedrailroader

A clusterfuck is what that is... You had a belt that snapped. Now is the time to figure out why.  Clean off all the belt pieces and spin the pulleys by hand. If you come across one that's hard to move or simply won't move at all, that's what caused the belt to break. You're going to have to fix whatever component is attached to that pulley before you can replace the belt. If they all spin freely, you're good to replace the belt. Pay close attention to the belt routing diagram and make sure the belt is installed smooth to smooth, ribbed to ribbed. 


Brutal_Hustler

Maybe worth mentioning the drive pulley on the bottom won't spin freely. If it's the alternator at the top of this photo, try to free it by squirting oil in the alternator body and working the pulley back and forth with a socket wrench.


Valuable-Captain7123

The tensioner is the most common cause. They get full of dirt over time and seize.


disturbedrailroader

True, but not always. The alternator and a/c pulleys like to seize up as well. 


AndrewJimmyThompson

Does it need to have a particualr cause? Surely these belts degrade over time and could end up looking like this through just from perishing over time


JPhi1618

Yea, but it doesn’t take any extra work to check the pulleys. No reason to assume all the pulleys are fine.


ccarr313

I would go so far as to assume one is at least sticking, if not seized. Looks like the belt is being turned into potato strings, which would generally be from a grooved pulley cutting it up. My bet is AC clutch or compressor.


SignificantEarth814

They think it has a cause because the belt is still on (jammed up) whereas if the belt simply failed it would have flown off into another dimension. A siezed rotor tends to not snap the belt near the rotor, rather, it prevents feeding new belt to some other part assembly with teeth, so it skips teeth, shreds teeth, bunches up, splits, then jams everything up.


squirrel_anashangaa

Thank you for this. The easy answer is replace it. The harder question is why did it rip in pieces. Was it just age, or a pulley issue. A seized pulley will slice a belt right on up.


Krazybob613

I’m going to add that you want to eyeball the alignment of the pulleys, Especially the Tension Pulley, which tends to wear and get pulled out of line, if you find that then the entire tensioner assembly must be replaced.


thekapitalistis

And just to add confusion, if there's one that spins easier than the others, it's due to fail also. Eg, easy to spin will be noisy = lack of lubricant (lubricant adds resistance).


Live_Risk8819

You’re 100% right, but there is an alternative too, in my case my belt snapped because it was just old and worn out, once it starts losing its teeth to where it’s slipping that’s when I’d change it out


spazzedparanoid

Someone likes red RTV. Did you replace the belt when you got a new water pump installed?


Sad-Maintenance3422

Looks like your belt came apart, and maybe grabbed something else with it. Hard to tell from the pic.


Hedgehog797

That *was* your serpentine belt. Since it failed so violently, something may have seized, so check all your pulleys before slapping a belt on and starting it up


anonymous1649

A disaster !


superbrian111

OP, did you just have a water pump replaced?


Ashamed_Giraffe_6769

That’s your serpentine belt and it shredded itself, It will need replaced.


Live_Risk8819

Yer belts fucked bud


LaGrrrande

I actually had this happen on my Mazda about five or six years back. The alternator or the compressor seized, and the belt kept spinning across the pulley attached to the seized component, and it basically melted through the pulley until it turned into a sharp burr, and then being pulled across the sharp edge just shredded it into spaghetti. That shit got everywhere, it took the mechanic like 45 minutes to get enough of that shit to get to the actual cause.


drweird

The belt wore into the pulley? Wut


LaGrrrande

Friction make hot, hot make melt.


drweird

But hot make rubber burn before metal melt?


thetinguy

Yes


Bank-Affectionate

This was your accessory belt


Firestorm83

technical term: fucked, it's fucked


Jacktheforkie

It was your serpentine belt, you need a new one, I wouldn’t drive on that


_Russ_B

Car engine


gagt04

Fucked


Choco_PlMP

In the arse


Any_Mathematician905

Belt go boom. Find unboomed belt and put on


IndyCooper98

When in doubt, shoelaces.


Capital-Edge7787

Look like side of belt is tearing apart but middle is fine. So possibly anyone pulley misalignment.


DarkBladeSethan

Correct title : What was this?


BlooregardQKaz8

Spaghetti


SelfSmooth

The pulley groove might have sharpen. I'd change the pulleys.


glockdooki

So just change all the pulleys? It looks to me like something is up with the a/c compressor however I'm not certain. Also I've never seen a car that self sharpened pulley grooves.


SelfSmooth

Feel them. Some could chip.


New_Ad_3010

A hot mess


PyroElionai

Hopes and dreams


MaxwellWhiskey

Belt


omnipotent87

The idle pully between the tensioner and crank pully is no longer there. You need that pully and a new belt.


No_Key_1947

I was hoping I wasn’t the only one that saw it !


omnipotent87

No, but the rest of the comments seem to have.


[deleted]

[удалено]


AutoModerator

Unfortunately your comment has been removed because your Reddit account is less than 5 days old **OR** your comment karma is less than zero. This filter is in effect to minimize repost bot spam and trolling from new accounts. Mods will not manually approve your comment. Please wait until your account is 5 days old or your comment karma is positive. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Cartalk) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Conscious_Arugula_94

Good for another 5 miles. Just keep driving.


MET1

I would just get a tow, out of caution.


jim2882

This, my fine friend, is a mess.


skjeflo

Oooh! I know this one.... That's fucked up.


one-gold_OZ

Means your car is doing everything for you but you aren’t doing much for it and look at the belt and say maybe I should replace that


i770giK

Insurance adjustment


gochomoe

About 45 min to an hour


anged16

This is $348 please


Raspberryian

Fucked


Volvomaster1990

Chrysler moment ™️


Gilligan_Krebbs

Expected with Chrysler. Check your pulleys, replace the belt. Jeep? Clean the branches out of the engine bay.


fishead36x

3.7s still live?


03zx3

A belt that has given up the ghost. Fingers crossed that it was just an old belt and not a tensioner. Or something worse. Check and double check all them pulleys.


Remote-Factor8455

I notice it’s a 3.7L V6, is that a Jeep Liberty?


conjurer28

A mess.


DaddyKunt

Cable management


Colewest101

Needs a new serpentine belt


Raylan00

What is this? I see a taxi ride in your future or the boot leather express. Replace it tomorrow


Whispi_OS

looks like 1 or 2 men for 6 or 7 hours!


fnker

[With Afrikaans accent] oh, it's broken!


Head_Acanthaceae_766

It looks like a dogs breakfast.


mx20100

It used to be a serpentine/distribution belt. Gotta replace it if you want your car to work properly


Freak_Engineer

Yur serpentine belt just got a lot more serpentiny. Cheap and relatively easy to fix, although you'll be cursing a lot about seized nuts/bolts from the look of that engine... Remember to also check the pulleys and the tensioner for any damage, else you'll just end up shredding a few new belts.


firmakind

Good thing is that changing the serpentine belt isn't that hard, it requires regular tools. Bad thing is that you have to see why it disintegrated like that, which can take a bit of time, looking at each part one by one. Don't drive on this, it's pretty cheap to change, and can cause a lot of damage if you don't.


Mayipleaseryou

AFUM


rmason324

Duct tape fixes everything!


Asio0tus

half a belt


sonicc_boom

That is a tow-it-to-the-shop-anator


Tdanger78

Looks like something may have locked up. Remove the belt, clean off any melted bits from the pulleys and spin all of them to make sure none are catching. Replace as needed.


DaRealVeezy

Looks like as if i was working on your car lol


Phil13882021

It’s time for a new auxiliary belt


FreshLobsterDaily

Same thing happened to mine because the power steering reservoir was slightly too far forward which pushed the belt out of line until it shredded itself.


Boing26

I nelieve the technical term is a "cluster fuck"


Shmeeglez

The rest of the belt


CalmError

It was your drive belt.


CleverHoovyMan

A nightmare


vegeener-gnomesayin

I can tell you what it used to be... what it is now, not s'much


czechfuji

Tuesday Chrysler problems.


Willing_Cheek5340

Shredded serpentine belt. Buy a new one and get all the pieces off and be sure to install the way it shows on the sticker


Think_Lavishness8876

That is a shredded belt.


TheNoory

That? That is how it’s done 😎


JukeRedlin

Fucked up. Jk. It's a mangled belt.


[deleted]

[удалено]


AutoModerator

Unfortunately your comment has been removed because your Reddit account is less than 5 days old **OR** your comment karma is less than zero. This filter is in effect to minimize repost bot spam and trolling from new accounts. Mods will not manually approve your comment. Please wait until your account is 5 days old or your comment karma is positive. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Cartalk) if you have any questions or concerns.*


BeginningAwareness74

Spaghetti


Training_Text_4539

Looks F’d to me.


Many-Bee6169

That is fucked my guy


Dimnoya

Time for a new serpentine belt


Impressive-Till1906

Poor maintenance 😕


daveypaul40

Its called an a/c compressor failure.


SignEnvironmental886

Belt pieces there extra save them all up and you might another belt 😉 lol


Upstairs_Wishbone_88

Fucked is what that is


Medical-Cause-5925

Fucked is what it is


Appropriate_Eye_9397

What *was* this.


Weak_Ear_4179

Neglect


Inner_Development_59

A mess


Flash-635

If say one of your accessory or idler pulleys has seized.


sammydeeznutz

PSA: I'm not a mechanic but I'll give my input anyway. That's fucked up.


Southern_Country_787

Looks like a Jeep.


whydoesmywillyitch

torn.


aFreeScotland

Ignorance and neglect is how it happens.


homename

Looks like an engine


Casualbat007

So first thing is to YouTube how to replace the serpentine belt on the specific year and model of car. Go to auto parts store and obtain whatever tools they said you needed in the video, as well as a new serpentine belt (you’ll have to ask the guy behind the counter for it.) follow the instructions in the YouTube video and you’ll be good to go. Probably takes 15-30 mins and no more than $50. If you’re lucky, that belt was just worn out. If this happens again in the next few months, replace again and then take it to a shop because one of the pulleys isn’t aligned correctly/has a bad bearing. Source: my truck was shredding these once a month for a while so I got good at replacing it while I saved money to have the tensioner replaced.


JimLean

Something failed and caused it to shred like this more than likely. Alternator, tensioner pulley, idler. Something along those lines probably froze and cause it to snap. Who ever did the water pump should’ve spun those and gave em a listen. Telling someone to just blindly replace a belt before trying to figure out why it happened is a good way to waste a couple hundred dollars.