Damn Pulleys....
 

Well it happened again. I don't know what it is with me and pulley's but sheesh.

I was on my way back from Canada again. 3rd trip in the SVX and always a pleasure until this time. I was about 6 hours from home, in the middle of butt fAck wyoming when it happened. Blew an alternator belt. Well I was able to to a u-turn in the middle of the highway and head back the 35 miles to Buffalo Wyoming to try to get some help.

Of couse everthing is closed, and the one napa store isn't even open Sunday's...so I would have been stranded there for 2 days. :(

I managed to get my parents convinced they had to come with a belt to rescue me. They did and arrived about 2 am. Working in the cold under a very dim street lamp I put the belt on.

Start her up, and I'm greeted with a billow of grey smoke. Puzzled I stared endlessly only to finally see what was wrong. My tensioner pulley was sezied. Sh|t! :mad:

Well being stranded with no Subaru shops for hundreds of miles, I did what I had to. I took off the pulley and jimmied my alternator until it contacted my belt. Then I prayed that I would get my poor car back home like that.

500 miles later she still was running fine.
I guess I just have the bad pulley car. Oh well. I'll be driving the Sunfire for a while. :(

Ryan

With your plight in mind, Ryan, perhaps we should put our collective heads together & determine what would be needed for an SVX SURVIVAL KIT (excluding a dead tranny). In other words, for those outta state, middle of the desert, crap-outs, what parts might it be wise to store in the trunk, including tools, to insure that we don't freeze to death before the rollback arrives.
Ron.

The list should relate to the number of miles you have to drive, unaided. It is my contention that the list for the SVX would be shorter than one for most other cars, and that's a good thing.

Because if you have to haul 1000 pounds of parts in your trunk, you'll have to add more to the list anyway. :)

that sucks nvrmore....
 

you are having the worst luck with your pulleys. do you have any idea why it might be doing that?

My guess is the 135K miles I have on my car. :D

The crank pulley just plain fell apart, it didn't seize or anything. No idea how long my power steering, alternator, or a/c tensioner will last at this rate though. :(

Ryan

I think for my money I'd want a cell phone, a bottle of Jack and an eplileptic nymphomaniac stored in the trunk. :p

Seriously, it sounds like either age or the belts have been too tight.

Beav

Gee Beav, Then you could call, have a little Jack, get tight but not as tight as the person in the truck:D :D Very funny. I think the belts have been too tight also maybe tightened by the person in the trunk?

I have tried some after market belts on my Legacy and was surprised at how tight they had to be to stop slipping. The Subaru belts are a lot better.

How tight is tight? I've always allowed for a 1/2 - 3/4" of slack when applying pressure. No squeeks like that. I've always used that rule on all my cars.

I'm still leaning toward just plain old parts. A bearing can last only so long.

Ryan

I've seen too tight serp belts cause problems on other cars like the 2.5 Ford/Mazda engine. It'll ruin tensioner bearings and cause the crank pulley to separate from the rubber isolator.

I agree, as simple as one would think belts are, there are some out there that just don't cut it (even some big name brands...)

As far as how tight: you could buy a belt tension gauge for about $300-400. :eek: What I recommend is to start out light and try it, remembering that a new belt will stretch in the first few days. If you don't have to retighten it, it was probably too tight from the beginning. I have seen some guys go so tight on serp belts that they cause the center of the pulley hub to flex and shear.

Beav