Keep shredding serpentine belts

Wild Horses · May 15, 2014

Ok so I have a small oil leak on my fron crank seal I've been meaning to get to. This could be my entire issue as it does sling a little oil but the belt doesn't ever seem to slip. I've done some research and read that there have been some TSBs with the 96-98 tensioner pullies and mine seems to be the old aluminum one. Well the body is aluminum and the wheel is steel.

My questions...

Would the oil leak on the front crank seal cause belt shredding? Does the front cover have to come off to replace that seal?

Can I switch my front motor cover to the 02 style if I have one laying around?

And how likely is it that it's just the tensioner? Are the old ones bodies aluminum or are the the actual wheels aluminum?

This is the second belt in a month that's left me stranded. I'm literally waiting for a tow truck right now. :sad:

JerZeyStangz · May 15, 2014

I wouldn't be able to answer all your technical questions but my hunch is that the piggy back bbk pullies you have in your sig can cause the front seal to leak. I would sell those and get the Ford/Steeda underdrive pullies and put the rtv sealant in the key way for the crank pully to stop the leak. Just a suggestion.

As for shredding the belt that could be a lot of possibilities maybe the bbk pullies are not spinning true when the car is running and that slight vibration can tear up the belt, this would further push me to get steeda pullies. Usually this would cause a CEL if your pullies are not spinning true.

Wild Horses · May 15, 2014

JerZeyStangz said:
I wouldn't be able to answer all your technical questions but my hunch is that the piggy back bbk pullies you have in your sig can cause the front seal to leak. I would sell those and get the Ford/Steeda underdrive pullies and put the rtv sealant in the key way for the crank pully to stop the leak. Just a suggestion.

As for shredding the belt that could be a lot of possibilities maybe the bbk pullies are not spinning true when the car is running and that slight vibration can tear up the belt, this would further push me to get steeda pullies. Usually this would cause a CEL if your pullies are not spinning true.

damn I thought I took those out of my sig way back. They were the first thing to go when I bought the car. I'm 100% sure that's why I have an oil leak to begin with. But my entire acc drive is stock. I put a new tensioner and belt on it today and the new tensioner seems to sit further away from my front cover. I'm assuming the old one may have been tracking off.

JerZeyStangz · May 15, 2014

Wild Horses said:
damn I thought I took those out of my sig way back. They were the first thing to go when I bought the car. I'm 100% sure that's why I have an oil leak to begin with. But my entire acc drive is stock. I put a new tensioner and belt on it today and the new tensioner seems to sit further away from my front cover. I'm assuming the old one may have been tracking off.

Did you put the right tensioner on for 96-98? And not for a newer PI motor, the valve cover and tensioner could be different. Definitely double check the part number and see if it matches up, and redo the crank pulley with some rtv and see if that helps.

Wild Horses · May 16, 2014

JerZeyStangz said:
Did you put the right tensioner on for 96-98? And not for a newer PI motor, the valve cover and tensioner could be different. Definitely double check the part number and see if it matches up, and redo the crank pulley with some rtv and see if that helps.

96- I think 99 have the 3 bolt design tensioner pulleys. There's pretty much no way to mix them up. What I was saying is that the new tensioner sits further out making the belt track correctly and hopefully solving my problem. I have the main seal already. I'm gonna go ahead and give it a try without pulling the cover off the motor. Hopefully somebody who has done one of them without pullin that damn cover can chime in with advice or a nice link.

RichV · May 16, 2014

Something to consider, could it be the belt?

I had a late 80s Jeep and it shredded like 3 belts in a couple of months. I spent a little more and got the Gatorback belt, it had more grooves in it, kinda looked like tire tread. I never had another issue.

Just a thought.