Need Some Help Here Members

I am halfway around the world with the military and found out my wifes XJ was having problems. It seems that the sepentine belt shredded yesterday. The local garage is telling her that the water pump needs to be replaced. Its a 91 XJ. I have never heard of a water pump causing a belt to shred, I seem to remember it will weep when it needs replacement.

I would really appreciate any thoughts on it. I hope its not a case of the local garage taking advantage of a woman who doesnt know better.

SPSERG said:

I am halfway around the world with the military and found out my wifes XJ was having problems. It seems that the sepentine belt shredded yesterday. The local garage is telling her that the water pump needs to be replaced. Its a 91 XJ. I have never heard of a water pump causing a belt to shred, I seem to remember it will weep when it needs replacement.

I would really appreciate any thoughts on it. I hope its not a case of the local garage taking advantage of a woman who doesnt know better.

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Well if the bearing was going it wobbled and the belt could have "walked" and got caught, so it does sound possible.

If the pump brgs are to the point that the pulley is wobbling it could potentially cause this. But the belt runs with its smooth side against the pulley. What I have seen more often is the crank pulley/harmonic damper causing this problem. It is two pieces joined by rubber between them. The outer section, which is where the belt runs, can move in or out which will cause the belt to wear quickly, or start shredding ribs off the belt if it jumps a groove on the pulley.
Good Luck.

Oh, and by the way, thanks for serving your country. God Bless.

Those things can do some damage after shreading too. There is no telling what could have caused it without being there to inspect it though. Doesnt she have a support group for the unit wives, maybe one of them knows a respectable mechanic that can help you guys out.

Semper Fi

Cory

Gotta go with explorer on this one - for two reasons:

1) If the water pump bearing was that far gone, you'd have noticed it by now. Failed water pump bearings are NOISY.
2) A 1991 is old enough to have a damper going.

This has happened to me twice, and both times the water pump was fine (in fact, that was where I found the belt shreds!) and there was niticeable protrusion of the rubber band in the harmonic damper.

When a belt fails, the backing tends to snap, and you'll find the belt wrapped around one or more of the "smooth" pullys, since they run on the back of the belt and catch the backlash.

As the harmonic damper begins to separate and misalign, it will cause wear on one edge of the belt (usually the forward edge, as the inertia ring creeps forward) until it fails entirely. Fortunately, this doesn't cause any critical damage to your engine, it's just a mess to clean up.

Is there anyone in the area that can go have a look? I'd do it, but I'm on the wrong coast. Sorry Brother, but 4500 miles is a bit for for a six-hour job (all up...)

5-90

It is posible that the water pump could have caused the damage or been damaged by the cause.

3 months back my buddy with a 91 YJ was travelling down the highway with me behind him. He calls me up and says he is overheating and must stop. When we look into the engine bay, we find that the pulley or the shaft of the water pump has come loose and caused the belt to come off and shred, but not before the pulley had cut a circular groove in the water pump and timing cover. whether the pump caused it or not, it was trashed all the same

The harmonic balancers do walk and can cause the belt to walk off or shred slowly. But a water pump can go out suddenly. This happened to me at 2:30am on a desert road. It's easy to see if it's the pump. The pulley will be XXXXed and turning it by hand will tell you.

Thanks everyone for the support. She is a very resourceful woman when it comes to cars and such. I am going to e-mail her and have her look at the pulleys and eye the harmonic to see if she can spot anything right off the bat thats obvious. Trouble is, its about 10* at home right now. Maybe I can send home some of the heat here to warm up the East Coast.

Great idea on the Family Support group, I know there is one in place, time to start calling

I've had a couple of water pumps go on XJ's, and they went very wobbly and noisy without leaking at all. I still would look at all the other pulleys too, but wouldn't be surprised if it was the pump. If the engine already has some piston slap, the bad pump sound can blend with that for quite a while.

Hi,

Hope you're doing ok. I haven't been over here for a while.

My 89 did exactly what you're wife described to you. My daughter was driving into the driveway when the pump let loose and unleashed its fluids onto the driveway....it too shredded the belt. It was a new (as opposed to rebuilt) Airtex pump with about two years service on it. It made no prior noises and the balancer was fine.

You're probably all set now but have her call me if she needs any help with finding a trustworthy mechanic down there.

Be safe...hope to talk soon,
Jay in MA

I had the idler pulley fail on two of my 3 XJs and both times shred the serpentine belt. Easy to diagnose by attempting to turn it by hand.

Stay safe.

You have a PM

In my shop....I've seen on numerous occasions....water pumps that locked completely up. They did this with no apparent warning signs at all (according to the owner's-who were knowledgeable people). When the pump seized...it slipped the belt until it could no longer take the heat/friction....then..it simply shredded the belt to pieces. I know this may seem rare....but I have seen it happen lots of times. I've also seen the idler/tensioners do the same thing as well. They are both pretty easily diagnosed....just take your hand and see which of the two pulley's mentioned....are still locked up. If not that...then have her check for endplay on each pulley.
Good Luck....and thanks for your and many other's service over there.
Aron