Any way to do this? The belt is pretty new but jumps when the a/c is on.

Thanks.



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Kiss_My_SS
1992 Camaro RS/Heritage Package
1996 Impala SS
1985 Good ol' Chevy 4x4 Truck

 

Buy a new tensioner

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1983 T-top Trans Am. All stock (for now) LG4/auto/3.73 posi. 70,000 original miles. SLOWLY going through a Knight Rider conversion. (it will be done one of these years)

 

You mean the gizmo that you pry to release the belt. I need to look at it again but doesn't it require some giant sized star wrench or does it remove elsewhere?

 

How new is pretty new?

We only get 1 year out of a belt and I figure the belt is doing the same thing around the 8th month into the year.

We have used Kelly belts in the past and have recently switched over to a goodyear belt.
I can tell just by looking at the two belts the goodyear is much better quality.

What mark is the tensioner at?

 

I would say nearly a year. I don't remember what brand I put on but I remember buying the more expensive of the choices the parts store had to offer.

The marks while running are right at the left arrow. I would have to check again to be totally sure but that is how I remember it.

Thanks.

 

We had the exact same problem with our old belt.

I could see the belt vibrating just below the A/C, and the A/C was making a noise while the A/C was on.

I replaced the belt and everything went away.

Our car has 125,000 miles on it and it has the original tensioner.

Our Goodyear belt cost us under $25 and other brands are under $20.
So I'd have to say go out and get a new belt and see if that is the problem.
Either way you're gonna need a new belt sooner or later and it will break at the wrong time, so it's always good to have a spare.

When we replaced the belt the tensioner was at the middle mark which "should" still be ok.
But a new belt fixed the two problems mentioned above.

 

This belt has about 15k on it at the most. The tensioner has 143k. I guess I could try a better belt, that's the cheapest easiest thing to try and see if it tightens things up.

Thanks

 

15K is what we average on our car a year, so I'd say we're about even.

Fact is...Rubber stretches when under tension for prolonged periods of time.

One other thing I'd like to ad.
Keep the old belt under your seat or in the back of the car somewhere.
When you only have one belt running the whole works and that belt decides to break you're left standing on the side of the road.

I keep an old belt in the car along with a rachet drive just for that emergency.

On older cars with the V-belt system. I used to keep one spare belt for the water pump and tools needed to put it on.
If the power steering pump, alternator, or A/C belts broke no big worries and you could still drive to the gas station or auto store. If the water pump belt broke then you had some major worries if you weren't close to a store or gas station.
With the serp belt system you're stuck on the side of the road if you don't have a spare.

Just some food for thought.