Thread: Belt slip

2007 Grand Prix GT

Wife was driving the GT when it suddenly lost power steering and the check charging system light kicks on. Gets it to a parking lot to find that the accessory belt had slipped off and is twisted. I get it home and see oil spray on the passenger side firewall in line with the belt. Also oil residue on one of the pulleys, the tensioner assembly, and the hoses coming from the tensioner assembly. Any idea what this all could be? At first I suspected a pulley, but after seeing the oil, I'm not sure. Read a few threads about how to check the tensioners, they seem to be spinning without any noise. Any questions, let me know.

Thanks,

Camrin

Make sure the tensioners are also properly providing spring tension. If they're bound up, they lose their ability to provide tension.

This is independent of the pulley - it's the spring mounting portion.

I know mine bound up and I needed to replace it at around 100k miles.

As far as the oily residue, it could be many things including a puddle you ran over.

Is the PS full? Are you sure its oil and not coolant? Could have broken a coolant elbow which sprayed coolant on the belt then it slipped off.

Try and spin all the pulleys by hand (except the crank obviously). You may just find that one of them is locked up. Wondering if the A/C may have locked up.

Originally Posted by SJAndrew

Make sure the tensioners are also properly providing spring tension. If they're bound up, they lose their ability to provide tension.

This is independent of the pulley - it's the spring mounting portion.

I know mine bound up and I needed to replace it at around 100k miles.

As far as the oily residue, it could be many things including a puddle you ran over.

I checked the tension on it because I thought it was that part, but with the oil reside in the areas they were, and after checking the signs of a bad tensioner, it doesn't look that way anymore.

Originally Posted by FordMan77

Is the PS full? Are you sure its oil and not coolant? Could have broken a coolant elbow which sprayed coolant on the belt then it slipped off.

Try and spin all the pulleys by hand (except the crank obviously). You may just find that one of them is locked up. Wondering if the A/C may have locked up.

No coolant smell in the bay, and the firewall was relativity clean before all this, so I think the brownish spray is in fact oil. Also, one of the bolts I removed in trying to take off the tensioner assembly had oil on about .25" of the tip.

So I checked all of the pulleys, and they are all spinning freely. After just grabbing a new belt and putting it on, I spotted a puddle of clear fluid under the car near the front passenger tire. Doesn't smell like antifreeze, and comparing it to the colors of all the other fluids in the car, it closest resembles brake fluid. The PS fluid appears to be an orange-ish color, as does the tranny fluid. I know it isn't oil. Searching has lead to not much, mostly antifreeze leaks from plastic elbows. The car hasn't been driven in about a week, and in that time the fluid hasn't soaked into the street. When the tow truck driver dropped off the car, there was the same clear fluid on the bed, but I attributed it to the AC, since my wife was driving it but a few hours before. Hate to be a newb, but has anyone seen this issue before?

Jesus I'm tired of this thing.

So checked the brakes, they are OK. Checked all of the other fluids, still right where they were. Put everything back together, and start her up. At first there is a squeal, I figure the belts are wet from me hosing everything out to get it clean, a few days prior. Then the smoke comes. Shut off the car, check the engine bay. Looks like the serpentine belt is riding a bolt off the water pump pulley. Re-align the belt, run it again. Same ****, squeal, then smoke. I let it run a while, 30 seconds, the squeal stops, the smoke doesn't. Shut it down, look again, sure enough the belt is rubbing the bolt again.

Is this the tensioner, did I align the belts wrong?

In the top pic it looks like the belt is not riding in the center of both the tensioner and W/P pullies and is walking inward thus touching the bolts. Even looks like a mark on the tensioner assembly itself from it.

Something is letting the belt move.

So, whatever idiot did the last install, they decided not to use all of the bolts, and there are three that were not installed, all 10mm if I am not mistaken. I have looked on a few sites, and have come to the conclusion these are probably dealer only items. Can anyone confirm or deny that?

I really appreciate everyone's help, so thanks again.

Originally Posted by TTalon

So, whatever idiot did the last install, they decided not to use all of the bolts, and there are three that were not installed, all 10mm if I am not mistaken. I have looked on a few sites, and have come to the conclusion these are probably dealer only items. Can anyone confirm or deny that?

I really appreciate everyone's help, so thanks again.

Take the one bolt you have for the WP pulley and go to a hardware store and they will be able to match it with the same thread/pitch/length you need.

If I remember they're 8mm bolts on the WP pulley.

Even if the previous owner didn't install all of the bolts it still should turn. Can you turn the WP pulley without the belt on it? I bet it seized up. Time for a new water pump.