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Most expensive belt

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MGFever

MGFever

Senior Member
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Here's one for the records! Also another lesson in preventative maintenance! Of course we all pay attention to our LBCs but how often do we service our daily drivers?!!
Last week I was out running errands with our Buick Regal GS. All of a sudden, I hear something slapping around under the hood. A mile later I lose the power steering and the temperature gauge starts climbing! Pull over and find that the supercharger belt had disintegrated and took out the other belt on the way!
Not having tools, needed to tow it to the local garage. $210 later the mechnic said I needed to llook at it before he let me limp home! Apparently the suppercharger belt wrapped around the shaft and damaged the seal! Garage not certified to fix superchargers, the dealer wanted to replace the entire unit for sevel thousand dollars, I finally found the one and only authorized rebuilder in California! $340 later, I had a new nose cone assemnbly in hand and several hours of work to put it in!
I doubt I'll forget to check the condition of my belts for some time!
crazyeyes.gif
 
Nope, Most of my summer weekends are taken. I'm the maintenance guy at the in-laws cabin! Not that I mind that!
 
One of the first Caveats I was given when contemplating the purchase of a Jensen Healey... Change the belt and keep changing them at 12,000 mile intervals. Seems the little Lotus engine eats belts and if it snaps, you will likely bend every valve stem in the head! Costly repair, hey it takes 30 mins and costs less than $25.

I just had the main belt snap on the Jeep seems the Drive Belt on the car snapped and broke every mount and bolt attached to the A/C, power assist and idler. It cost over $400. for the mounts that were snapped, it broke with so much force that it broke the garde 8 bolts on the power assist pump. Investagating the root cause of the failure was a little more complex until I found that one of the bolts on the main idler was missing causing or allowing the idler pully to **** sideways forcing the belt to slip over and wrap around the pully and "BANG", "SNAP", major failure and a $400 parts bill and a day putting it all back together.
 
I once had a 87 Porsche 944 and had been warned to replace the serpentine belt before 50k miles. When I hit 50k miles I kept fionding excuses not to get that done. Then one morning as I attempted to start the car and go to work, I heard the belt snap. Even though I shut it down immediately, the damage was done! Eveny valve was bent! That was a $1600 lesson!

Basil
 
Basil;

I guess I was really lucky that the Dodge 318 engine doesn't use a belt drive scheme. Ouch, "that had to hurt".
 
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