serpentine belt problems

[NitroDuck]

Ive got a 89, stock its got 142k miles on it and it started shreding the serpentine belt, ive replaced the idler arm pullie and its still shreding them, any help would be appriciated thx

[RichP]

Dampener pulley down the bottom of the engine, has a rubber center that wears out causes it to track into the engine timing chain cover. You need to replace it.

[DeathByXJ]

Belt shredded, mechanic said might be the harmonic balancer but he wasn't convinced.
He put a new belt on, it lasted a week. New balancer being installed today for about $225 parts and labor.
At least the guy isn't charging me for a second belt.

90xj
stock 'cept for the silly rusty's air tube

[satan]

$225 - I need to move to hollywood -- I got a beer for the last one I did (took about 35 minutes in all...) CRAP!

[Eagle]

There's a reason (not a goodreason, but a reason) for a $225 bill for that job. Cgrysler changed the harmonic damper in model year 2000. They also discontinued the old part and superceded it to the new part number. Problem is, to put the new part on an older engine, you have to remove the timing cover and remove the oil slinger from the nose of the crankshaft. Great way to turn a 15-minute job into a 3-hour job.

The moral is to buy an after-market harmonic damper. I know the Crown unit (which uses the same part number as the old Mopar part number) is a perfect fit. Check the Crown web site to see if there is a dealer/distributer near you.

[Ted Z]

Yeah it was like $70 at autozone and about 1 hour for my last one..... Fixed the prob

[GSequoia]

DEATHBYXJ You're in North Hollywood? If you want to do any runs keep an eye on the SoCal forum, we've go out to Big Bear quite often.

I'm in Torrance and work in Downtown L.A.

Sequoia

[RichP]

Is the new unit that chrysler came out with less prone to failure than the old one ??

[Eagle]

LESS prone to failure than the old one? My "old" one lasted about 215,000 miles -- is this your idea of failure-prone?

[RichP]

Heck, I never even heard of them before I bought my XJ so I'd say 'YES' seeing as how I never had one fail on my 2.8L V6 and it had over 680,000mi on it when I sold it :D
PSHAW....215,000, still a baby :)
Gotta get around to putting that new belt I bought on mine if it ever stops raining for a day. Just that at 175,000mi it still looks good, no cracks or anything so I'm loath to replace it.

[92AKXJ]

What if I've had two balancers in the past year? What's the next thing to look for? Btw - 92, 4.0, 126K, starts eating the belt on the backside (consistent w/ balancer problem)

[old_man]

The thing I have seen cause belts to start failing is that people forget to put the bolt in the back side of the alternator on earlier XJ's and the alternator sits at an angle. The same thing can happen with some of the power steering units.

Tom Houston
Loveland, Colorado