Check that serpentine belt!

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chickenman_26

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New guy here. I hate to make my first post on a negative note, but I just had an interesting afternoon caused by a broken serpentine belt and thought I'd pass along a heads up. Anybody here ever had one break? Trust me - you don't want to. Steering? Only if your name is Schwarzenegger. Brakes? Forget it. Pedal right to the floor. I'd just gotten off a freeway and was only doing around 20 mph stopping for a light in rush hour traffic. How I managed to avoid hitting anything is anybody's guess. If I'd still been on the freeway doing 70, I'd have been in deep doo doo. I really miss the old V-belt designs where if you broke a belt, you lost ONE thing, not everything. '07 2500 w/5.9L and 51,000 miles. I check the belt carefully at each oil change - last one 2 weeks ago. Replacement interval is "as required" with inspection at 22,500 mile intervals. I think I'll just toss a new belt on every 30,000, because I sure don't want this nightmare again.

Stu
 

Stangshcky12

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My girlfriends dad has broken two or three serpentine belts on his 09 2500 with 100k miles as of today in the past 6 months
He's had two different AC compressors went bad on him, bearings seized up and the belts snap shortly after
Only thing he's really been mad about is having to have the truck towed...
 
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chickenman_26

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Yeah, the tow cost me $79, but I think insurance will reimburse me. I did have the AC going (it was 107 here today), but it was working fine. Tow truck backed my baby into my garage, so I can sort through the carnage tomorrow in an air conditioned building instead of laying in burning hot gravel. The belt is twisted up around the pulleys, and the fan blades have black marks all over them. I don't see any leaks or other physical damage. It could have been worse...

Stu

Edit: The belt demolished the crank position sensor and rubbed insulation off 2 wires in the bundle that runs along side it. Gates belt - $48. Crank sensor $23. I got off cheap.
 
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chickenman_26

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So here's an update. I found what caused the belt failure. The bearing in the idler pulley disintegrated - completely. All I found was the inner and outer races, and both were full of rust. That let the pulley off the shaft, which took all the tension off the belt, then all hell broke loose. Gates sells a replacement with double bearings - Gates 36315 idler pulley for '03-'12 Turbo Diesel.-Geno's Garage. Dodge wants $140 for the OEM pulley with single row bearing.

Stu


 
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ramhunter9

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Wow that sucked
 
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chickenman_26

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I hear that! I'm amazed I didn't hear that bearing failing before it completely let go.
 

Gardenfan

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Towed a few for those pulley bearings seizing up. Most times not much damage thankfully.
 

USMC1188

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Wow, that coulda been much worse.

I actually had that same exact thing happen with my old 05 Hemi. I was driving off base and all of a sudden the pulley literally blew up. Somehow, the belt stayed on and I was able to turn around and park it, even with the belt slipping.
 
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chickenman_26

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Wow, that coulda been much worse.

I actually had that same exact thing happen with my old 05 Hemi. I was driving off base and all of a sudden the pulley literally blew up. Somehow, the belt stayed on and I was able to turn around and park it, even with the belt slipping.
I wasn't as lucky. The belt was torn in half, slapped around and ate up the crank sensor. That caused the engine to stop, which made the power brakes inop. Another owner I met yesterday told me I was lucky the belt didn't rip into the radiator.

Stu
 

WhiteExpress

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I was very much confused as to how the serp belt took out your brakes, but if it killed your engine, that makes sense.

Wow, sounds like quite a string of bad luck slammed into a short time frame!
 

USMC1188

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If he has Hydroboost and the power steering pump stopped because of the lack of belt, then brakes would become inoperable as well.
 

kylep

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happened last night

Well, my wife took my 07 2500 6.7L diesel on a road trip to visit her parents 4hrs away last night (I love the truck btw). I get this frantic call when she is an hour from her parents. My 13 yr son was telling me mom can't steer, break, etc and is going 70 MPH on the freeway. Wow, that puts a scare into you. I told them to pull over immediately, and apply the break best you can. Use the engine break, use the emergency break... and downshift to help w slowing. Long story short... it was the belt, it broke. My nephew and bro in-law came to the rescue. They facetime'd me and showed me the issue.

Some pulley looks to have come right off. Not sure yet if its the same one as here or not. When the belt broke up, it did a slice and dice routine on my radiator hose too. We don't yet know what else it may have damaged. Will try to update once we have her fixed.

I think this is bad design. Horribly unsafe. Your belt breaks, and all mayhem is now possible. 70MPH on a freeway and you loose control.

They ended up towing it the remaining hour to my in-laws home. Thank goodness nothing serious happen to them.
 
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