wandering belt

on my 96 neon, it seemed that the alternator belt had moved inwards and half had disintegrated. after replacing it, the new one is doing the same thing.:frown: . what is happening!? how do i fix it?!

You dont say if yours is a Single Overhead Cam or a Double. On my 97 SOHC the belt is a 'serpentine type' with about 4 mini-grooves (as opposed to a V-belt kind). That type of belt is fairly sensitive to one of the pulleys being out of line with the other one. This could happen if the alternator wasnt tight on its mount. It could also be that something has gotten in the way of the belt and is rubbing against it, damaging it and making it shift on the pulley. This could also happen if one of the pulleys had damage that would chew up the belt.
I know its hard to get a look at that part of the engine. I had the engine out of our 97 Neon a few years ago, and replaced the alternator and belt while it was out -- because it looked like it would be so difficult to get to with the engine in the car and the other belts in place.
I think taking off the passenger side wheel and removing the splash shield might be the best way to look at the 'run' of the belt.

it's a SOHC. the V belt for the accessories just snapped while i was driving.... so much for power steering.... but the alternator / "serpentiine"? belt is 4 grooves. when you replaced your alternator did it fix the problem?

Well the alternator and its belt werent giving me any problem. But having the engine out made it easy to replace both of them. It looked as if trying to replace an alternator or a belt with the engine in place would be a tedious and frustrating chore. I will be taking the engine out again in a month or so, since it now has a thin trail of blue smoke coming out the tail-pipe, and it would fail emissions that way.

i got it... turns out the crank pulley was somehow pushed out OR not rightened correctly... i jsut took a hammer and pounded it in about a half inch! believe that!

Thanks for the feedback. I wouldnt have thought the pulley could be off or loose - but its something I will be looking out for.