Serpentine Belt Tensioner Exploded while driving!

[Bitwise]

While I was driving today the headlights suddenly got dim, the battery light came on, and I lost power steering. I pulled over thinking the serp belt broke and I already had a spare with me. Instead I found a splattering of what looked like some sort of oil (from the idler pulley?) spattered around the fender liner which smelled burnt and the tensioner minus the pulley. By the looks of it it seized up the bearings. I never heard anything. I don't think it damaged anything else luckily. No obvious damage to other components when it happened and I'm not leaking anything so that's a plus. I'll call around in the morning to see if anyone has a new one nearby. I'm in the middle of rural quebec so that will be fun. I just figured I'd share what happened since it seems so weird to me to have a pulley explode without warning and not even take the belt out with it.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Happened to me once, an idler pulley exploded. I had a spare belt and pulley, it was a 15 min repair on the side of the highway and I was back on the road.

This was on my F150

 

[cbxer55]

I had a bad tensioner back in 2002. But before the tensioner crapped the bed, the belt broke. Same thing, lack of power steering, battery meter going down fast, like a mob stool pigeon wearing custom-fit, poured-in-place cement shoes, after a one way boat ride. Stuck at a stop light, temperature gauge heading for the moon. Turned heater on full bore and managed to get it to the side of the road before it went into the twilight zone. Vato Zone had a replacement belt and tensioner.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I had a bad tensioner back in 2002. But before the tensioner crapped the bed, the belt broke. Same thing, lack of power steering, battery meter going down fast, like a mob stool pigeon wearing custom-fit, poured-in-place cement shoes, after a one way boat ride. Stuck at a stop light, temperature gauge heading for the moon. Turned heater on full bore and managed to get it to the side of the road before it went into the twilight zone. Vato Zone had a replacement belt and tensioner.

Vatozone lol...The vatos call Duralast duraless.

 

[superj]

ha ha ha, thats what i call autozone, too

 

[cbxer55]

Vatozone lol...The vatos call Duralast duraless.

I know, I hate duralast. But, that tensioner is still on my truck 21 years later. Changed the belt twice since then. Changed it again last year. And truthfully, even though I buy most of my stuff at NAPA lately, it's also mostly made in mexico.

Hell ,those 50 year old Cragar Mag Master rims I recently restored and put on my truck, say Made In Mexico on the back. Nothing new under the sun. Has a nice ring to it, "50 year old rims on a 25 year old truck".

 

[Bitwise]

Nice to hear all your experiences with the same thing. It worked out pretty well for me in the end. I used CAA (canadian AAA) in the morning to get a free tow to the nearest NAPA which had the tensioner in stock. They had another engine rebuilding business on the lower floor and they let me use their tools. I had a socket set on me at the time but a previous owner replaced the tensioner bolt with an 8mm one and rounded it completely so I needed an extractor set. I also replaced the other idler pulley since when spinning it by hand it sounded like its bearing was shot as well and I didn't want to get stranded again. The replacement idler doesn't seem as good quality as the original though. Completely plastic instead of metal where the belt rides. We'll see how it lasts.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I think they might be designed to fail without damaging other stuff. Mine did not cause any damage other than the belt, which probably could have gotten me home, but I always keep a spare serpentine belt in my vehicles. Its crucial, easy to change and takes no space.

Anyways I unbolted what was left of the idler, bolted on the new one and set in the new belt. one 3/8" drive metric socket ( I think its was a 14mm) and a breaker bar for the tensioner was the only tools needed.

Usually they start making noise before blowing up.

 

[Bitwise]

Yeah that would make sense if they were designed that way. My exhaust recently got a 2" hole in the cat where the hanger ripped out so the drone may have covered anything up. I was just trying to get home to fix that with more tools

 

[James Morse]

When I got '97, you could see tensioner at a bit of an angle. I replaced with Ford part, and when I took the old one out it literally fell apart. Replaced belt too of course. What clued me in was belt squeak for a few seconds after startup and pretty sure it was coming from there as it went away after the fix.
There's an amount of stress on the tensioner, but, it should rotate around its mount staying in the same plane as the other pulleys, or darn close to it, not visibly angled, that indicates it's coming apart soon.
Glad you got it fixed.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Some of the members here recommended changing the tensioner and idler pulleys on my 2011 after I first bought it and joined this forum. All the 100,000–mile maintenance was due anyway. I followed the members' advice and am glad I did.

Years ago on my '97 Escort wagon the original tensioner broke where the wrench or breaker bar would snap in. The car had about 100K miles. It happened during service, though, and I'm suspicious of the shop...

 

[Josh B]

So much is done in Mexico due to finding help in the furnaces used it heat treatment. I have done some work in those also and they are fairly detailed. I have no problem with parts from Mexico, Thailand, Viet Nam, or Taiwan