Hello everyone, I just got done changing an alternator on my friend's 2015 Chevy Sonic 1.8 because the bearings failed and was causing it to make a very loud rumbling noise literally less than 1000 miles after the warranty was up. Nice. Anyways, I was surprised by the amount of tension on that serpentine belt when I took it off. That belt tensioner was TIGHT. I wasn't able to get it to budge at all with a standard length 19MM wrench, I needed to use another wrench over the end of that one in order to barely get enough leverage to pull the tensioner back enough get the belt off, and it was still extremely difficult. The belt is so tight that I was unable to push it down more than about 1/8 of an inch. I have replaced several belts and I have never felt nearly that much tension on a belt.
So my question is if there could be something wrong with the belt tensioner that is causing it to way overtension the belt and destroy the alternator, I know too much tension can destroy bearings in the accessories. I don't see how a spring loaded tensioner could do that, but I also can't imagine that they would design the tensioner to tighten the belt so ridiculously tight either. Is this something I should be worried about, or is that normal for some cars? Thanks in advance, I would hate for the new alternator or another accessory to be destroyed by the belt tensioner if it's bad.
So my question is if there could be something wrong with the belt tensioner that is causing it to way overtension the belt and destroy the alternator, I know too much tension can destroy bearings in the accessories. I don't see how a spring loaded tensioner could do that, but I also can't imagine that they would design the tensioner to tighten the belt so ridiculously tight either. Is this something I should be worried about, or is that normal for some cars? Thanks in advance, I would hate for the new alternator or another accessory to be destroyed by the belt tensioner if it's bad.