Hey guys, I seem to be having a problem with my 2006 tC. My serpentine belt has recently been splitting in half, making there be two thinner belts on it. I have changed 2 belts already in the last month and a half. All I really have on my car is an unorthodox crank pulley. I have searched and searched and I cannot find any answer. Has anyone had this same problem? and what did you do to fix it? I'm not sure if its any of the pulleys, lightweight pulley, or if its the tensioner. Its getting tiring and costly to keep changing the belts. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

Ryan

 

dude that ____ing sucks! i have the NST underdrive crank pulley so this makes me nervous ill see if anybody i know has heard of this.

 

Thanks, the sooner I figure out what's wrong, the better.

 

either you have a sticking pulley or your tensioner is slipping allowing the belt to ride on the edge of a pulley splitting it, check to make sure all your pulleys spin freely and run your hand around the ribs of all your pulleys to make sure none are shapr and splitting the belt, then finally make sure the tensioner cant be moved by pulling on the belt

 

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow!

 

my belt came off few day ago too
While putting it back on this morning, My NST Lite crank pulley seem kinda stuck.
Am I suppose to be able turn it with my hand? my tc's hand brake was on.

 

well, the handbrake on would have no effect on the pulley. and id say no, you shouldnt be able to spin the crank pulley by hand as it's bolted to the end of the crankshaft. you'd be turning the whole rotating assembly of the engine by hand which you shouldn't be able to do.

 

yeah you want be able to turn the crank pulley, I meant the others. if the crank pully wasnt turning you would know it

 

i remember when i tried to install the pulley, The pulley was turning while i was trying to loosen the bolt. I gave up and took it to the shop.
Luck for me, there don't seem to be any damage to my belt.

 

well you were using a tool, torque will spin it, but you probably wont spin it by hand

 

I have nst undersized crank,alt, and water. Had all of them installed at a shop. No belt problems other then a slight squeal here and there

 

***UPDATE***
Hey guys I decided to go to the dealer and get an OEM serpentine belt, because obviously they are more durable than some of the cheap aftermarket ones from those auto parts stores. While I was there I decided to have one of the service guys take a look at it. The service manager surprisingly said that they won't charge me to check it out and just tell me what's wrong with it. So I said sure why not. 45 min later, the mechanic inspected all of the pulleys for me. Basically the end result was, supposedly something, anything, very small possibly could have gotten in between the belt and the lightweight crank pulley, causing the middle ridge (rib) to get slightly damaged. They told me because it is made of softer aluminum, as opposed to the stock hard steel, it is more vulnerable to minor damage happening, causing the belt to get damaged.

Thanks for all your input, I'll change my belt tomorrow and switch the pulleys and try to post up some pics of the damage.

 

glad to heard it is just the belt. You can get a Gates belt for around $30. I been running it with NST supercharger pulley for while. But then trd idle pulley bearing went bad and destroyed it.

 

**Here is my final update, took the belt off and its working great!
Here was the problem
Here's the belt before I took it off


Another shot


Belt after I took it off


HERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!


the tiny rock lodged in my pulley, because of the softer aluminum, I suppose


I am guessing its because the crank pulley is closer to the ground and more exposed to debris from the road. I dont know how I missed this before when I checked the pulley before. I am relieved it's noting more serious.

 

Wow, it's one of those satisfying "WTF" moments.

 

wow, how did that rock got in there?

 

yeah glad is was something simple to explain it all!

But what brand did you finally go with for the drivebelt? Not to jack the thread but how many miles do they usually last?

 

damn aint that a one and a million thing to happen?!?!?!! where were you driving that a rock got lodged in the pulley?!?!

glad that you finally found the problem! i have the NST crank, alt, w/p pulleys installed by yours truely and have had no problems...