Saleen shredding belts after fender Bender

[RedMosesSC]

Memorial weekend was made SUCK by a fender bender on Sat, need a new Bumper, Fender and some slight dents on door and 1/4 panel, going to have to spray the entire side of the car as well . Luckily no one hurt and hood is ok.

I pulled over into a spot right after and noticed i lost power steering, after the other guy got towed i assesed the damage and tried to start the car, ran for a few seconds and shredded the belt. I left the car there and went to get a fresh belt in the morning, i realized that i had to remove the alternator bracket while trying to get the belt back on (something the Saleen manuals dont mention ), when i got the belt back on i started the car, ran for 30 seconds and i shut her down.


I buttoned everything back up and started her up again, i started to notice a knocking sound which was the belt begening to shred again, WTF? There was not much impact at all from the accident, i dont see how it could have affected the pulley alighment.

One thing i did notice is that when the belt started going again it was misalaigned on the SC pulley and the tensioner, in research i see that ppl have issues with the stock tensioners when using a Saleen SC but it appears to be spinning freely, as are all the pulleis.

Going to tow to the Body shop and try and figure out pulley situation as its bieng repaired, any ideas? or comments? I guess it would be a good time to put on a good tensioner at this point.

 

[Pumpkinfish]

The stock tensioner is a known weakness on boosted cars. I am now running the Roush heavy duty one (on ebay for $133 or so) and when I had a belt shredding problem, the stock tensioner was bent.

I would also make sure you got that alt bracket back on correctly. I know fumbling around on the side of the road you just want to get done and home and Saleen never considered this scenerio when designing the setup. Also, it is hard to do with everything in the way, but make sure you get the belt on the p/s and a/c pullies correctly. I usually have to really feel around with my hand to make sure the belt is on the p/s pulley properly.

 

[Fastbreak]

Luckily hood is ok.

This is all I got from the entire post.

 

[Dread53]

The pulley isn't the part of the tensioner that craps out, it's the pivot point. I can see the misalignment of the tensioner in the bottom photo - the tensioner is moving out towards the front of the car so the belt is at the back of the pulley.

Bummer about the fender; big sigh of relief about the hood!

 

[OneQwkStang]

I can see the misalignment of the tensioner in the bottom photo - the tensioner is moving out towards the front of the car so the belt is at the back of the pulley.

Yah she does look off..you can see where the belt used to ride the tensioner pulley.

 

[RedMosesSC]

Thanks guys, i will start with the Tensioner, i find it strange that the SC pulley is also misaligned, i hope the problem is not bigger than that.

 

[OneQwkStang]

Thanks guys, i will start with the Tensioner, i find it strange that the SC pulley is also misaligned, i hope the problem is not bigger than that.

Kind of odd it started happening after the collision. The tensioner does look off, however make sure nothing is rubbing the belt. Look under the car and see if somthing hasn't been bent from the accident and rubbing the belt.

 

[VTXFrank]

Was this collision your fault? If not, I think I'd get the other guys insurance to pay for all of this. That way, if there's a problem later on, you're covered then too.

 

[JimIII@JDM]

from your picture it looks like its off the backside of the tensioner like its bent forward. Very common and Id go with a billet tensioner like the Thumprr or UPR

 

[RedMosesSC]

I went with the Steeda Tensioner with the Billet pulley, hopefully this solves the problem and there are no other suprises, body shop does not think the belt issue and collision were related, they dont see any associated damage .

Thanks guys.

 

[RedMosesSC]

Swapped in the Steeda tensioner with the billet pulley, car ran smooth for 15 min moved around the shop but i havnt given it hell yet.

 

[JimIII@JDM]

Swapped in the Steeda tensioner with the billet pulley, car ran smooth for 15 min moved around the shop but i havnt given it hell yet.

If the belt looks like it was tracking better Im sure that was your problem... Go give it some hell!