I have a '96 F150. I am having problems with the Serpentine belt. It has been replaced 4 times in the past year.

What happened originally was that while driving to work one day last year, I began to hear a knocking noise from under the hood. I soon realized that the serpentine belt was riding over the edge of the top pulley by about 5/16 of an inch. The edge of the pulley was in fact slicing the complete edge of the belt.

I replaced the belt, it seemed to work normally for a while, then it happened again. I had Canadian Tire mechanics look at it, they installed another belt and a tensioner as well.

The problem reoccurred, and again the mechanic was mystified. He replaced the belt.

I have the same problem again now. But this time, the problem didn't begin to occur for about 2 months after I had installed the last belt. But I'm not sure what to do. It seems to me like one of the pulleys must be misaligned, or bent. Rather than finding the true problem, the mechanic only chooses to install a new belt.

Any ideas?

Rob

 

You just gotta spend some time with a good light and a straight edge to go from pully to pully sweepin across to see if one is crooked. Also carefully spin each pully looking for any burrs on the edges that would catch and cause the belt to ride up.

Adrianspeeder

 

use a straight edge to check each pully flat and spins true, it may not be a pully but the spinning shaft, check both. Check the alt pully first as it has the longest run. last, check that the mounting brackets are tight and not bent. a straight pully could run off center with a bent mount. Good luck

i edited for this thought:

try a laser level, it projects a beam of light in a straight line. hold it above the engine and watch how the pullies run in compairison to the beam. that should show you a wobble of a misaligned pully. figure out how to stabilize it and you could shoot the front side and then the back of each pully while the engine runs

Randy