PSA: That "lifetime" serpentine belt snapped after 18 months in my Corolla

Was driving through Flagstaff last week and heard this awful squealing, then the belt just gave out. I'd bought the expensive one thinking it'd last forever, but the tensioner pulley was slightly misaligned and wore a groove in it. Anyone else had a 'lifetime' part fail way early because of a hidden issue?

3 comments

3 Comments

quinnm7710d ago

The misaligned tensioner pulley is the real problem here, not the belt itself. Those "lifetime" parts are only as good as the stuff around them. Had a buddy's truck eat through two expensive belts before he realized a chunk of plastic got stuck behind the pulley. Check that the alternator and water pump spin smooth too while you're in there. Sometimes a belt just masks a bigger issue waiting to happen.

amy_martin9d ago

Yeah totally agree with you @quinnm77! I had almost the exact same thing happen on my old Civic. I swapped the belt twice before I finally checked the tensioner pulley alignment. Turned out a small pebble had wedged itself in there from a gravel road I took the week before. Your advice about checking the alternator and water pump spin is spot on too, because I ignored that and ended up with a noisy bearing a month later. Sometimes you get so focused on the belt that you miss the little stuff that's actually causing the trouble. I always give everything a good spin by hand now before I button it up.

charles8369d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah the part about the pebble wedging in there makes sense. I read somewhere that a lot of belt noise comes from crap getting caught behind the pulley, not the belt itself.