chewing up belts!

[aaronh2005]

ok i have a 98 talon, esi, NA/NT, manual trans

this car has been chewin up belts left and right. took it to the shop to replace one belt coming off, but now both are slipping. the first problem is the alt. belt. that one keeps slipping, even though the belt is tight. maybe a pulley is getting stuck? but when they are free (no belt on) they spin fine. the alt is still the original one though. the p/s and a/c belt came off tonight on my way home from work. that one may have come off because of the alt belt coming off though (riped or torn through because of tearing on the alt belt). i have no clue what could cause this. i was thinking maybe crank walk, but i don't have any other problems associated. any help would be greatly appreciated. if you need pics of the set up just let me know and i will post them!

thanks,

a very frustrated talon owner

[gthompson97]

The chance of your car crankwalking is like .000000000001%. Have you checked to make sure the crank pulley is still in alignment with the alternator and accessory belts? I had that problem once. The crank pulley wasn't completely aligned and it kept throwing/tearing belts when I would drive it.

[SilvrEclipse]

+1 for making sure pulley is aliegned. Also make sure there isin't any damage to the pulleys.

[aaronh2005]

yeah that was the first thing i checked. all pulleys are in line. the alt pulley has a little bit of chewed up belt on it, but nothing that would cause it to completely throw it off. the shop did say that the alt could be bad because it looked burned up. they said if that happens the pulley on the alt could have some play in it when the engine heated up and got hot. yeah i thought crank walk was a bit of a stretch too, but with the way things are going on this car, i would discount it.

[JoeShmoe]

Do they sqeak? If so, when? When going straight or turning? Hot or cold engine? And pics are never bad.

[gthompson97]

Just for good measure, check the bolt that holds the crank pulley on and make sure it's tight. I know the pulleys may "look" in line, but even 1/8 inch off could be throwing belts. I literally had to pull the whole passenger side of the motor apart and get a straight edge before I found out that the pulleys were not aligned. I HOPE that's not your problem because it wasn't fun.

[freddy86]

Great Info here guys, first time and new to the forum.

I have a 99 Eclipse that is doing the same thing and in my looking for the cause,I ran accross this TSB

TSB 9837A005 for the 95-99 model eclipse which may include your vehicle. Symptoms include rapid belt wear and/or the throwing of the belt.

Basicly it is a recall for belt misalinment, and provides fixes to the dealership mechanic. This included the non-turbo with and w/o AC. Not for sure but i also think it talked about the turbo models. (i was having my 16 year old read it to me over the phone so i could post this)

The fixes for the dealership mechanic include:

a. replacing the Idler pully (they give the new part number),

b. Check the AC bracket for alignment. TSB indicates a replacement bracket if this is the problem. BTW ..on a search i saw where a cracked AC bracket also caused this issue of belt throwing.

c. Power steering bracket out of alignment which the TSB indicates using 1mm shims to bring back into alignment.

The TSB kept refering to pictures, but the one I downloaded did not have them.

Hope this helps you find and fix your issue. ..Wonder why it wasn't a recall to fix.

[boostjunkie333]

Are any of these pulleys of yours aftermarket ones? I had problems with a civic I had bc it had aftermarket pulleys...chewing up belts all the time...ended up putting the original pulleys back on...