2000 montana Sep. belt and other

[LittleC]

Hello,
I am having a challenge with my 2000 Montana’s Serpentine Belt. I replaced the belt about two months ago. The van has about 125,000 miles on it. There was nothing “wrong” with the old belt, just felt it was time to replace it. Well last Sunday it started frying and luckily I was sitting it the auto part stores parking lot getting something else when it split and started coming off. So I thought bed belt. After replacing it all seamed well and yesterday I was backing out of my drive and I heard the dinging sound again of it starting to fray. So then I went and got a new belt and tensioner and replace both. Then on the way to church this morning it started fraying again and totally came off in the poring rain. Thank God we were there right at church. And we coasted in.

I checked all the pullies and they spun freely, minus the harmonic balancer of course. And I double and triple checked this time to make sure the belt was seated right on each pulley. I did notice that on the last one it had “wondered” off the harmonic balancer one “rib” so that is way I went ahead and replaced the tensioner this time around. I checked for places that might be cutting the belt, but they just look like they were running off track and being split by the pulley. A/C works fine, pwr stearing works fine, Alt. still give power. Nothing noticeable is not working right.

Another problem, it does start to stall sometimes when you first start it up, but it does fine after that. And it has that “knocking” bad gas knock when accelerating. “Lifter rattle”, Put higher-octane gas and it stops. I sometimes get a P0171, & P0101 codes. I replaced both O2 sensors, but still get the 171 every once in a while. I cleaned to MAS too and have not got the 101 lately.

I know there are several different things here, but could some help me figure out what I’m doing wrong, or think of anything that might be making it still fail or shred like that? I’ve gone through what I know to check (which is not much) and can’t find the source of this problem.

Thanks for your help in advance!

[mhall02]

I have had some pully issues with my '99. It now has nearly 150,000 miles and I replaced the tensioner about 4-5 months ago. Recently the belt starting squeeling and split so the belt, water pump (original), two idler pulleys were replaced and squeel went away, but something was still wrong. I noted that things got really quiet when the belt was half on/half off the harmonic balancer, and that turned out to be the culprit, it was out of alignment with the other pulleys and falling apart. I did not do the labor on this part (I did all the other items listed above and was getting sick of it and it was a Monday). Had the mechanic put a new Delco balancer on plus labor for a tad over $200. So that was the cluprit for me, next repair is my noisy front passenger side bearing assembly, that is the fun I'm having this coming weekend. Hope this helps!!

[LittleC]

mhall02, Thanks for the reply. That is the one I had a sneaking suspision on. but the thought no way. I'll have that ckecked out, it's the only one that is hard to get to and you can spin that in quite a easy as the rest.

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by LittleC

Hello,
I am having a challenge with my 2000 Montana’s Serpentine Belt. I replaced the belt about two months ago. The van has about 125,000 miles on it. There was nothing “wrong” with the old belt, just felt it was time to replace it. Well last Sunday it started frying and luckily I was sitting it the auto part stores parking lot getting something else when it split and started coming off. So I thought bed belt. After replacing it all seamed well and yesterday I was backing out of my drive and I heard the dinging sound again of it starting to fray. So then I went and got a new belt and tensioner and replace both. Then on the way to church this morning it started fraying again and totally came off in the poring rain. Thank God we were there right at church. And we coasted in.

I checked all the pullies and they spun freely, minus the harmonic balancer of course. And I double and triple checked this time to make sure the belt was seated right on each pulley. I did notice that on the last one it had “wondered” off the harmonic balancer one “rib” so that is way I went ahead and replaced the tensioner this time around. I checked for places that might be cutting the belt, but they just look like they were running off track and being split by the pulley. A/C works fine, pwr stearing works fine, Alt. still give power. Nothing noticeable is not working right.

Another problem, it does start to stall sometimes when you first start it up, but it does fine after that. And it has that “knocking” bad gas knock when accelerating. “Lifter rattle”, Put higher-octane gas and it stops. I sometimes get a P0171, & P0101 codes. I replaced both O2 sensors, but still get the 171 every once in a while. I cleaned to MAS too and have not got the 101 lately.

I know there are several different things here, but could some help me figure out what I’m doing wrong, or think of anything that might be making it still fail or shred like that? I’ve gone through what I know to check (which is not much) and can’t find the source of this problem.

Thanks for your help in advance!

If the gas cap did not fix it you will need a good engine capable scanner and a good repair flow chart for the code that came back to do any more fixing or testing.
It is losing fuel tank vaume someplace. Sometimes vacume/fuel lines and valves and solenoids.
But the EVAP emission system is a repair that really needs a professional tech to repair.
Even sometimes a smoke machine is used to.
If you have a good dealer it would be a good job for him to do.
Have you got a good engine capable scanner to read out the EVPA emission system or good repair info on it?
MT

Please Disregard this post .
Somehow I posted it to the wrong post.
Sorry about that My mistake.
MT

[LittleC]

Harmonic balancer/crankshaft pully was the problem...
It's alwasy the last place you look...
Thanks for the direction.

MT-2500, I'm not following you on this. Feels like I'm missing part of the conversation?

I was thinking the air idler valve or something like that. But your saying gas cap?

Thanks,
CL

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by LittleC

Harmonic balancer/crankshaft pully was the problem...
It's alwasy the last place you look...
Thanks for the direction.

MT-2500, I'm not following you on this. Feels like I'm missing part of the conversation?

I was thinking the air idler valve or something like that. But your saying gas cap?

Thanks,
CL

Sorry about that.
It looks like I posted to the wrong post somehow.
Just disregard my post.
MT