serpenetine belt broke

[Davidk]

Happy Easter all

Just started up RV for the first time this year, Had to keep it revved up a bit so it would not stall. Went to pull out of the winter shelter. No power steering. Also gen light came on. Opened up the bonnet and the belt was gone.

Found it hanging on the frame below. Belt in great shape but looked like it snapped. Before i buy a new one and install is there something i should check to see why the other broke.

Found Boosters trick on how to help with the install ( thank you ) by myself. But just wondering if there is a reason for the break , like something stuck/froze that i can manually check by hand. Everything seemed fine last season when i put it up for the winter. Had a new rad and hoses installed just before it went up for the winter also

Also any other helpful tricks or hints would be great ( 1997 ,318 dodge )

Thanks in advance

David

[booster]

QUOTE=Davidk;92322]Happy Easter all

Just started up RV for the first time this year, Had to keep it revved up a bit so it would not stall. Went to pull out of the winter shelter. No power steering. Also gen light came on. Opened up the bonnet and the belt was gone.

Found it hanging on the frame below. Belt in great shape but looked like it snapped. Before i buy a new one and install is there something i should check to see why the other broke.

Found Boosters trick on how to help with the install ( thank you ) by myself. But just wondering if there is a reason for the break , like something stuck/froze that i can manually check by hand. Everything seemed fine last season when i put it up for the winter. Had a new rad and hoses installed just before it went up for the winter also

Also any other helpful tricks or hints would be great ( 1997 ,318 dodge )

Thanks in advance

David[/QUOTE]


I haven't used the "trick" on a Dodge, but likely will help for them also, or any other vehicle that needs you to go under to get the belt on the lower pulleys.

Anything that turns with the belt could stick and cause the breaking belt, I think, except for the crankshaft pulley itself as that is what drives it and you know that works as the engine ran. You should be able to check all of the others can be rotated to check if they are stuck or overly tight.


Also possible is that the spring loaded damper stuck and didn't properly tension the belt. Sometimes they can stick after sitting, get pulled to tighter just as the engine starts and not go back to controlling tension. You should be able to check that when you put the belt on as you will need to move the damper to get the belt on. Move the damper all the way to it's stop point and make sure it doesn't try to stick there.


If the air conditioner belt is the same age, I would change both while you are in there.


They make a high reliability "green" belt for the Chevies that IMO is worth the extra money, if it is still available. They seem to be very good belts. They may also be available for Dodges.


It is most likely the belt just failed from age or defect when started after sitting. They take a set to the shape of the pulleys and even stick to them sometimes, and if you had to race it to keep running it would see more load before it warmed up and got more flexible.

[JebTN]

booster pretty much covers the problems but I had mine snap 2 summers ago. It was starting to shred and we were looking to spend the night at a Walmart and wait till a Ford garage opened the next morning. We pulled into the closed Ford dealer to turn around to go back to Walmart after we were sure were the dealer was and it snapped, we stopped and camped in their lot. Turned out to be a seized water pump. Our diesel make enough noise that the noise coming from the water pump failing was easy to ignore accept in hindsight.

[Davidk]

Thanks Booster

I will check all other items that the belt goes around, and yes makes sense about keeping the shape and me having to keep the rpm's up a bit to keep from stalling.

In the book it shows my van having the same belt going around the air conditioner , but will check to see if there is a secondary belt on it.

Also will check to see if there is the " green " belt for the Dodge that you mentioned.

Thanks for the input...........and i think the bungie cord idea will be my helping hands in the install

ps: Also the GEN light came on , would this just mean that something was not running right because the belt broke ..as i do not have a on board generator

thanks

[Davidk]

Thanks JebTN.

will check that also, hope its not my water pump and just a tight pully

[booster]

Originally Posted by Davidk

Thanks Booster

I will check all other items that the belt goes around, and yes makes sense about keeping the shape and me having to keep the rpm's up a bit to keep from stalling.

In the book it shows my van having the same belt going around the air conditioner , but will check to see if there is a secondary belt on it.

Also will check to see if there is the " green " belt for the Dodge that you mentioned.

Thanks for the input...........and i think the bungie cord idea will be my helping hands in the install

ps: Also the GEN light came on , would this just mean that something was not running right because the belt broke ..as i do not have a on board generator

thanks

All the GEN light means is that alternator is not generating high enough voltage above battery voltage, which it can't do if it isn't turning.


For some reason they keep using GEN lights when alternators have been the standard for decades.

[Davidk]

Originally Posted by booster

All the GEN light means is that alternator is not generating high enough voltage above battery voltage, which it can't do if it isn't turning.


For some reason they keep using GEN lights when alternators have been the standard for decades.

Ok but caught me off guard for a bit wondering why GEN light
thanks again

[SteveJ]

Do yourself a favor and buy two belts. Keep one for a spare. I had a belt snap while traveling due to a bad bearing in the idler pulley but they can go at any time.

The thing is, when that belt goes, it's a show stopper. You're done and can't really go anywhere. A tow truck, service call, or a ride to a parts house/shop will be required. Time,inconvenience, money and aggravation all come into play. If you have a spare and a tool to move the tensioner you are on your way in 5-10 minutes.

When mine went I had a motorcycle with that I used to get a new idler and belt. I did and do carry a spare that would have come in real handy if the parts house was out of stock or did not carry a belt for my 19 year old vehicle.

[Davidk]

Originally Posted by SteveJ

Do yourself a favor and buy two belts. Keep one for a spare. I had a belt snap while traveling due to a bad bearing in the idler pulley but they can go at any time.

The thing is, when that belt goes, it's a show stopper. You're done and can't really go anywhere. A tow truck, service call, or a ride to a parts house/shop will be required. Time,inconvenience, money and aggravation all come into play. If you have a spare and a tool to move the tensioner you are on your way in 5-10 minutes.

When mine went I had a motorcycle with that I used to get a new idler and belt. I did and do carry a spare that would have come in real handy if the parts house was out of stock or did not carry a belt for my 19 year old vehicle.

Thanks SteveJ
good tip and yes i will buy 2 , just another thing to add to the repair trunk of parts to carry in rv
And yes without this belt it is hard to go much further

David

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by Davidk

Thanks SteveJ
good tip and yes i will buy 2 , just another thing to add to the repair trunk of parts to carry in rv
And yes without this belt it is hard to go much further

David

Yer quite welcome.

I've had good luck with Gates belts hoses, parts, etc. IIRC, they are still made in N. America.

[Davidk]

Found the reason for the break, the alternator was seized. and the torck of trying to turn over it must have also cracked the alternator.

Ordered in new belt and alternator , install later this afternoon. Glad this did not happen out of town on a trip in the middle of nowhere

[jmai]

I have a 2001 Roadtrek 190 and had the same problem. If you look closely you can see that the case has cracked. I was told by my local independent dealer that the armature windings tend to rust and and eventually it expands and does not turn. My first indication was a warning light on the dash that says "Check Gauges".

[Davidk]

I understand , this was the first winter that i did not have the RV in heated storage. i built a large dome storage unit not heated.

So that is what it looks like, it might have cracked and froze from the wire corrosion and swelling. Yes when i looked at the alt. you could see the crack that is why i took the picture to show the garage and to order in the new one with new belt.

When i put the RV up for the winter all was running great. So now i am wondering about not storing it in a heated storage like before.

Thanks

[Davidk]

Thanks for all the input and comments

All back together and seems to be running fine now. While doing this also found a couple vacuum hoses that needed to be trimmed and reattached ( glad i knocked one off while installing the new alt. ) there was a couple of dry cracks, so just trimmed up to good rubber and rejoined.

i will pick up a second belt just to have in stock.......never know

thanks to all
David

[booster]

Originally Posted by Davidk

Thanks for all the input and comments

All back together and seems to be running fine now. While doing this also found a couple vacuum hoses that needed to be trimmed and reattached ( glad i knocked one off while installing the new alt. ) there was a couple of dry cracks, so just trimmed up to good rubber and rejoined.

i will pick up a second belt just to have in stock.......never know

thanks to all
David

Excellent news, was the bungy cord needed for the Dodge belt installation?

[Davidk]

Originally Posted by booster

Excellent news, was the bungy cord needed for the Dodge belt installation?

ha ha
No it was not needed but i had 2 of them right there ready to use.

I normally do not do work on my cars trucks etc as i normally work with wood and leave that to the guys that do that. But looking at it would have to be towed than worked on to remove and install, thought i would do myself.

All fine and saved a couple dollars, and still have all the skin on my fingers

Took for a drive 20 minutes , all good

now i am just concerned that the dome shelter i built for storage might stay too damp in the winter

David

[booster]

Originally Posted by Davidk

ha ha
No it was not needed but i had 2 of them right there ready to use.

I normally do not do work on my cars trucks etc as i normally work with wood and leave that to the guys that do that. But looking at it would have to be towed than worked on to remove and install, thought i would do myself.

All fine and saved a couple dollars, and still have all the skin on my fingers

Took for a drive 20 minutes , all good

now i am just concerned that the dome shelter i built for storage might stay too damp in the winter

David

Good to know no bungy needed for a Dodge as those questions come up occasionally, thanks.



I see you are in Nova Scotia, so likely damp air and winter snow, both not the best for stored vehicles.


We are in Minnesota so winter also, but probably not as damp.


Outside storage is actually the worst for the areas that don't get rained or snowed on, at least around here, particularly the underside and bottom half of the engine compartment.


The mass of the metal can stay cold a lot longer than the surrounding snowy areas around the vehicle, and as moisture and humidity rise in the areas around the outside from the heat of the day or just temp change it gets blown under the vehicle and condenses on the still colder metal. I melting snow runs underneath it is even worse.


Many of the folks that store classic cars, hot rods, and sometimes RVs will park them over a heavy sheet of poly film to keep moisture from coming up from the ground, even if on a dirt floor indoor unheated storage area. Some even do it over concrete if no heat.



Outside is a lot tougher, but many say the plastic also helps there, and some also like to put them as high as possible on blocks or stands, to get more room to the ground and better air circulation to help even the temps out of the steel parts with the air. I am not sure how much this helps, though unless you could get very high off the ground.



If possible, an enclosed area, with a plastic sheet underneath would almost certainly make a big difference even if unheated as long as water couldn't run in around it and over the plastic, or snow blow in.

[jmai]

Originally Posted by Davidk

I understand , this was the first winter that i did not have the RV in heated storage. i built a large dome storage unit not heated.

So that is what it looks like, it might have cracked and froze from the wire corrosion and swelling. Yes when i looked at the alt. you could see the crack that is why i took the picture to show the garage and to order in the new one with new belt.

When i put the RV up for the winter all was running great. So now i am wondering about not storing it in a heated storage like before.

Thanks

Glad to hear the install went OK. Its actually an easy repair on this vehicle because everything is accessible and at a good height to work on.

My RV is also stored outdoors in New England. I figure the new alternator has an armature that has coated or painted wire. How long will it last...who knows! But I'm assuming I can get at least 5 years out of it. I just hope the remanufactured units really have a good coating or paint over the wire.

[Davidk]

Hi Booster and jmai

Yes the storage is cold but i have it enclosed and no blowing snow can get in, and quite dry until the sun beats down than lots of condensation dripping from roof. But we do get a lot of freezing and snow and rain

I might have to put in a vent of sorts at both ends at top to help remove dampness

Also the plastic under van to stop ground moisture. I have 4" of gravel for the floor. I built the shelter on 2 runs of 6 x 6 to give me the height so i can drive in under the door height

The new alt. is new not reconditioned and i hope the wiring is well coated like you mentioned. Time will tell

Thanks for all

[Davidk]

sorry not sure why pictures showed up sideways