Drive belt, 1998 Malibu

"Sharky" wrote in


> Well, I managed to answer some of my own questions because I went back
> out this afternoon and got the water pump changed. Now I just have to
> figure out why the tensioner will not stay in place. When I started
> the car, all was fine, until suddenly I heard the belt stop spinning
> and a few seconds later the battery light came on. I looked under the
> hood and lo and behold the tensioner was swung back toward the
> firewall with no pressure on the belt whatsoever.
>
> What is the trick with this tensioner? At first, I couldn't get it to
> loosen, now I can't get it to tighten. BTW, at one point this morning
> in an attempt to loosen it, I did loosen the bolt that holds the
> tensioner to the bracket. But I know damn well I retightened it, so
> it shouldn't have let go. I will recheck in the morning, but if there
> is something I am missing, please someone fill me in.
>
> Thanks
> Sharky
>
>
>

sounds like the spring inside the tensioner finally broke
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get a new tensioner
KjunRaven wrote:
> "Sharky" wrote in
>
>
> > Well, I managed to answer some of my own questions because I went back
> > out this afternoon and got the water pump changed. Now I just have to
> > figure out why the tensioner will not stay in place. When I started
> > the car, all was fine, until suddenly I heard the belt stop spinning
> > and a few seconds later the battery light came on. I looked under the
> > hood and lo and behold the tensioner was swung back toward the
> > firewall with no pressure on the belt whatsoever.
> >
> > What is the trick with this tensioner? At first, I couldn't get it to
> > loosen, now I can't get it to tighten. BTW, at one point this morning
> > in an attempt to loosen it, I did loosen the bolt that holds the
> > tensioner to the bracket. But I know damn well I retightened it, so
> > it shouldn't have let go. I will recheck in the morning, but if there
> > is something I am missing, please someone fill me in.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Sharky
> >
> >
> >
>
> sounds like the spring inside the tensioner finally broke
 >> Stay informed about: Drive belt, 1998 Malibu 

Had nothing to do with the tensioner after all. I found out the morning
after the belt had come off what really happened. When I opened the hood
that morning, I noticed that the tensioner was swung way back, yet the belt
was still loose. So I checked the routing of the belt on the pulleys and
that's when I saw the idler pulley below the water pump was completely
missing. The belt was resting on the bearing and the pulley was laying in
the bottom of my driveway. The bearing was seized completely solid and
apparently the belt, while trying to spin that frozen bearing, ripped the
idler pulley right off the bearing and chucked it out into the driveway.

Long story short, my brother in law happened to have an old Cutlass Ciera
junked in his yard, so I pulled the idler pulley off of it and slapped it
onto my car. Today after work, I stopped at a bearing supplier in Burnside
and picked up two new bearings, one for each idler pulley on my car. Once
the new bearings are pressed in, I won't have to worry about them seizing up
again. The tensioner is working fine and everything is back to normal
again.

Only on a Chev product would the water pump AND the idler pulley bearings
both self destruct at the same time, LOL.

Sharky
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"Sharky" wrote in


> Had nothing to do with the tensioner after all. I found out the
> morning after the belt had come off what really happened. When I
> opened the hood that morning, I noticed that the tensioner was swung
> way back, yet the belt was still loose. So I checked the routing of
> the belt on the pulleys and that's when I saw the idler pulley below
> the water pump was completely missing. The belt was resting on the
> bearing and the pulley was laying in the bottom of my driveway. The
> bearing was seized completely solid and apparently the belt, while
> trying to spin that frozen bearing, ripped the idler pulley right off
> the bearing and chucked it out into the driveway.
>
> Long story short, my brother in law happened to have an old Cutlass
> Ciera junked in his yard, so I pulled the idler pulley off of it and
> slapped it onto my car. Today after work, I stopped at a bearing
> supplier in Burnside and picked up two new bearings, one for each
> idler pulley on my car. Once the new bearings are pressed in, I won't
> have to worry about them seizing up again. The tensioner is working
> fine and everything is back to normal again.
>
> Only on a Chev product would the water pump AND the idler pulley
> bearings both self destruct at the same time, LOL.
>
> Sharky
>
>
>

new batteries for your flashlight may help next time and possibly
glass's........jeeesh
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