Serp Belt Snapped?

Hey guys, wondering if anyone has ever had their belt snap?

Belt is close to new. Maybe 2500 miles on it. Started truck after work and it snapped. It's squealed a few times since changing it but nothing too over the top, usually caught right away. Gates brand. Anyone else had this happen before?

 

Seen them break from being routed on the alternator wrong. They can last a week sometimes before breaking.

Seen pulleys sieze causing the belt to snap. I would look at every single pulley.

 

years upon years ago in an old chevy where the water pump froze up. i'd be checking anything in the engine that the belt spins

 

Yeah, check all of the pulleys. the amount of wear on the outside of that belt is abnormal.

 

yeah the back of the belt looks VERY worn... my original belt that i replaced as maintenance not long ago had 95k miles on it and looked WAY better than yours. Make sure everything spins smooth especially those pulleys that are smooth where the flat side of the belt rides on.

 

I just replaced my OEM belt at 122k. Noticed 75% of the belt was split. It made no noise nor did it snap. Could be a manufacturing non-conformance or one hell of an unwanted force all of a sudden.

 

Something stopped moving and wore the shit out of the outside of that belt. Id look for something seized or on the way, it will be one of the non grooved pulleys

 

In my case i will keep an eye on the new belt as everything seems tip top. The belt was way past it’s serviceable life. As for the ops belt, in my 27 years of car ownership i personally have never seen one just snap like that. That was brute force. I would guess a manufacturing defect or something straight up stopped spinning, assuming it was correctly routed.

 

Do all the above,either you got a defective belt,or something is bad in your truck,or maybe you didn't get the belt seated properly.

 

Thanks guys, stopped at the dealership today and picked up an OEM belt. Just finished installing it
All idlers are original so I'm going to replace them in the near future, but as far as movement goes they're all free as a bird. The others are all in good shape as well. New belt doesn't squeal at all on start up like the other one did right away so I'm thinking defective belt possibly. Who knows but for now I'll be replacing idlers as well. Thanks again.

 

If you choose to just replace the pulley/bearing on the tensioner, I believe the bolt is reverse thread.
There for you turn it Clockwise to loosen it. (Which would be the same as tightening a “normal” bolt)

The reason I mention this is, if you decided to replace the whole tensioner assembly.
You’ll probably have to take the alternator out and unbolt the A/C compressor the get new Tensioner Assembly in. It’s up to you, and how the tensioner spring feels.
Some opt to just replace the bearing or pulley as it is less work.

You can read more about the process here

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...arings-in-the-idler-tensioner-pulleys.480961/

 

I know this is an old thread but my belt just broke after I replaced it 7k miles ago. Yes it was installed correctly and luckily I was on the interstate and not offroad somewhere in the middleof nowhere.
The shop said that an idler pulley went bad and seized up causing the belt to break. I'm still waiting to see if the engine was destroyed from the overheating.
If anyone is getting belt noise make sure to check all of the pulleys before putting on a new belt and save yourself a lot of headaches.
I'm also told that all of the other pulleys need to be replaced because of the force applied to the belt.

 

I say BS on replacing the pulleys just because of the force applied. You can replace all pulleys as preventive maintenance, but I don't buy replacing them only because of a force.

You check each pulley for play - side-to-side, push in/out, and rotate to feel that it rotates smoothly. It is normal for the PS pulley to have about 1 mm in/out play. Dont know about the AC pulley. All others should have no play. The tensioner pulley is generally only available as a whole unit, but the pulley bearing can be replaced. Febest makes a pulley/bearing replacement but it is Chinese made.

 

Yeah, you are probably right. I'm definitely not taking any chances though. Good information about pulley tolerances.
Thanks!