With 49,000 miles my fan belt frayed and walked off the motor side of the A/C pulley by 1 groove of the belt. I've read the numerous posts on this and from what I've read it could be a bad tensioner or just the belts time to go. I took the belt off and it wasn't terrible as far as dryness and cracking goes, I've seen alot worse. The tensioner has such a tiny bit of play that you really need to focus your eyes on the pulley to even see it. The belt was off the inside of the A/C pulley so I don't know if the belt jumped and then frayed or if it frayed and then jumped. Sorry for the long winded post but it's not under warranty anymore and the tensioner is $180.00. My question is how much play does it take in the tensioner to throw a belt? I am off to buy a new belt and for now I will just keep an eye on it. I hate to waste the $$$$ on a tensioner but I also don't want to throw away a $60.00 belt.
Thanks,
Bill

 

Wouldnt that be cover in the 100k mile warranty of the motor?

 

CUMMINSBILL,

I have had this same sort of problem, but it wasn't on my truck.

I had a dodge dynasty that would all of a sudden just fray and throw a belt sometimes. The first time it happened I just put a new belt back on. Then it happened again in about 10K miles.

I again paid the $45 for a new belt and it happened again in about 5000 miles.

Repeated the process again with some grumbling and to my dismay it happened again in about 15 mins. This time it didn't ruin the belt. I put the belt back on and just watched for a couple mins and it happened while I was watching it. It just walked right of the tensioner.

I took the tensioner off the car and even though it looked all right I sprang for a new one (about $100 if I remember) and never had a problem again with the belt after that.

After closer inspection of the old one I could tell it was slightly tilted at an angle at the tension knuckle. My guess was it just slowly got worse as time went by.

Sorry for the long winded reply. I would just do what you are doing now and keep an eye on your belt, but if it happens again in the near future I would spring for a new tensioner.

Have a nice day.

 

Well I went out and got a new belt put it on and it pops off the inside of the A/C pulley as soon as the engine starts to turn so it looks like I need a new tensioner. The engine doesn't even start and the belt is thrown!!!!!!!!!! Called my dealer for a tensioner and of course its not part of the engine or powertrain warranty but the did knock 20% off the price because I bought the truck from them along with about a dozen guys I work with. So all and all I guess it wasn't too bad but then again I haven't put it on yet

 

Wasn't an improved aftermarket tensioner available for the new gen? Or was that my imagination?

 

Apparently not.

 

Thought Cummin had a better tensioner."Thought" I read this somewhere on a forum.

 

http://www.psdieselproducts.bizland.com/index.html has an upgraded idler pulley. Not sure if it applies to our third gens. I tried doing a search on this forum but the search function is disabled. At least it was last night.

Casey

 

You might want to read your warrenty booklet. I think it has to be covered because you can not run with out the belt.

 

Pully and tensioner are covered 3/36.Belt also.

 

bill,

i just had mine replaced last week. my truck had only 3600 miles on it and it started shreading like yours did.

here are a couple of pictures







i asked them to check the tensioner and they said that it looked fine. then they just installed a new belt. i will check mine at least once a week from now on.

if your truck doesn't have anymore play than that on your tensioner then i think i would just install a new belt and keep an eye on it. just my opinion though.

check with wexman. he has done a lot more research on this then i have. search: wexman - belt.

britt

 

CumminsBill's belt had significantly more mileage than ours - it probably wouldn't hurt to change the tensioner as a preventative measure. Belts nowadays *should* last for years, but I just don't know.

Britt and I had the same experience - very low mileage, and the dealers *said* they checked the tensioner, etc, so just replaced the belt. Wish I had a better answer for you. As I mentioned in one of my previous threads, the pulley at the bottom passenger side (what is that - water pump?) there is NO room for error in tracking.

So far, almost 5000 miles later, my new belt, which is also cross-hatched and doesn't chirp, is tracking just fine - and I have hit some horrendous bumps and holes in the road which should have given the tensioner a good workout. I *DON'T* want to jinx myself, however, and I check mine now as part of my weekly underhood review.

By the way, it STILL seems to me that a tensioner (maybe not the belt, as that is a "wear" item) should be covered under the Cummins warranty - isn't the tensioner part of the engine?

Scott

 

I was told by a DC service manager that only parts that touch engine oil are covered by the 100,000 mile warranty.

 

It was definately the tensioner in my case. I put the new one on (very easy to do which was shocking just one bolt a 13mm socket and five minutes to change) and now the belt stays where it should. The old one barely had any play to it and it is too hard to see if it is flexing but I think my problem was at start up. The engine wouldn't even fire and off the belt went. A better A/C pulley would help a bit as well. But anyway my baby is fixed and running smooth again and it only cost a little over 200 bucks so I guess it could of been worse.
Thanks for the replies,
Bill

 

Only the ENGINE and internals/fuel system covered 100k.Not the starter/alt/brackets/pullys etc.Seems interesting when my neighbors shredded his that when his dealer called the much larger dealer the parts guy said they had replaced several and usually kept tensioner and belts in stock.They only had one belt and tensioners were on order.