Belt problems

[Drew99GT]

The Mitsuboshi belts I have on my Corolla have 70,000 miles on them and there are no cracks on them at all. Pretty amazing with that mileage. Problem is, the power steering belt slips when cold unless I absolutely crank it on with too much tension (the bearings on the nose of the pump shaft whine).

I'm obviously going to replace them today with gates belts, but have you guys had belts just wear out and essentially loose traction? The rubber feels a bit more slippery and stiff on the power steering belt. Not glazed over from excess slippage though.

 

[Colt45ws]

Newer belts are EPDM and it takes a long time for them to crack. I was on Gates page the other day and they have a gauge to measure wear, which tells me actual depth of the grooves may be the determining factor for replacement?

 

[Billy_D]

You could have tried a can of aerosol belt dressing and see if it fixes your problem.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Billy007
You could have tried a can of aerosol belt dressing and see if it fixes your problem.

I have seen that stuff sprayed all over belts. No Thanks.

 

[simple_gifts]

My Echo belts have an auto "worn out" feature, they jump the pully, in particular the PS one. I am on my 4th set of belts due to this. Alignment according to 2 places is ok.

 

[eljefino]

All the time with outdoor power equipment where the belt is used as the clutch. Wears the sides down until the bottom of the V is rubbing on the pulleys. It's the sides of the belt that get traction. New: \__/ old: \_/

OPE belts are meant for this with a special coating but they still get glazed.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
My Echo belts have an auto "worn out" feature, they jump the pully, in particular the PS one. I am on my 4th set of belts due to this. Alignment according to 2 places is ok.


Are they tensioned correctly?

The Toyota dealer (the one time it was in there) was not capable of putting enough tension on my power steering belt and it jumped off while driving through the parking lot.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
All the time with outdoor power equipment where the belt is used as the clutch. Wears the sides down until the bottom of the V is rubbing on the pulleys. It's the sides of the belt that get traction. New: \__/ old: \_/

OPE belts are meant for this with a special coating but they still get glazed.


Ahhh. Makes sense. I think that's what has happened on the power steering belt on my car.

Gates designs their belts to have shorter ribs/vs. Maybe they do that so as the belt wears out, the ribs won't contact the pullies and glaze.

 

[simple_gifts]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
My Echo belts have an auto "worn out" feature, they jump the pully, in particular the PS one. I am on my 4th set of belts due to this. Alignment according to 2 places is ok.


Are they tensioned correctly?

The Toyota dealer (the one time it was in there) was not capable of putting enough tension on my power steering belt and it jumped off while driving through the parking lot.


Not sure, the dealer did it. The first set I did a pull test and thought they were too tight, but it jumped off anyway. Whatever was done the last time, it seems to have worked, but this is about your problem..... 8)

 

[JohnBrowning]

that echo soulds like a pully issue even if it cannot be seen with the naked eye by the guy working on it their is something not right. I made my entire bracketry set up myself from scratch when I put a Corvette Engine in my 4Runner. I wanted to keep and use the Toyota AC and PS parts so I had to make my own set up. If a kid can do this with a tap measure, plasma cutter, tubing and mild steel sheets and some cardboard to mock things up the OEM surely can. I have not heard of anyone else having issues with their Echo like this so it is a unique to youproblem. I would see if I could either get some good pulleys from a junk yard or buy new ones. I would get a new tensionand belts. I would clean the snot out of everything and fix any leaks in the area as well!

I had the OEM Toyota do a good faith warranty on my tensioner and belt about two years ago. The tenioner made a dreadful noise on cold starts for about a minute and some times it would make noise latter on too. It was still good and functioning. They put on new everythign. That replacment serpentine belt already has a boat load of cracks two years latter. Never mind the fact that the factory one lasted 4 years with no sings of wear and tear. I think that the OEM factory installed belts and hose's that come on most Toyota's are far better then the average after market ones. My 1986 4Runner had silicone hose's from the factory. It was 12 years old before I felt the need to replace those hose's!

 

[Drew99GT]

The OEM hoses on my 94 Corolla still look brand new and are not soft or spongy. They're twice as thick as the aftermarket hoses I've put on cars!

 

[fdcg27]

One of my '86 Civics went to the junkyard in 2003, with 200K plus, wearing its factory original coolant hoses, all of them.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
The OEM hoses on my 94 Corolla still look brand new and are not soft or spongy. They're twice as thick as the aftermarket hoses I've put on cars!


Be careful. They may look new on the outside, but they could be failing from the inside out.

My boss neglected to overhaul the cooling system on her '99 Jetta VR6. While the hoses still looked "OK," a major hose failed right before 100k and destroyed the entire engine-- $8000.

 

[Drew99GT]

OK, well, got the new belts on and the power steering belt is squealing worse now when coming close to full lock. And I have the sucker CRANKED on as hard as I can just to see if it would stop it.

I think my power steering system is old and starting to fail or something. I'm going to add an ounce of Seafoam Transtune and see if it helps out. Says it works for power steering units and liquefies old gummed up fluid.

No, I'm not going to Auto-RX it!

 

[ATS-V]

In the old days of V-belts I used to put chalk on the sides of the belts if they made noise/slipped when cold.

 

[Ursae_Majoris]

When did you replace PS fluid last?

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: Ursae_Majoris
When did you replace PS fluid last?


I've been sucking out fluid and replacing it regularly over the past few years now. The fluid looks clear and smells fresh.

This tightness and noise has started just recently now that it's been cold in the mornings.

I'm going to try Lubeguards power steering additive today and see if that helps. Replacing the entire rack/pump would cost more then what the car is worth.

 

[Drew99GT]

Couldn't find Lubegard's product, so I'm in the process of doing some more turkey baster flushing. The fluid is actually very dark now that I'm looking at it in a clear container, and there's a bunch of small black particles. Looks to me like my previous flush and fill with new fluid loosened up a bunch of oxidized crud.

How many full lock to lock turns, or how much driving, does it take for the fluid in the reservoir to mix the old with the new? I'm thinking not too much, as I watched a video online on how to flush a system the ASE way buy removing the return line and running the system while turning the wheel lock to lock while supplying new fluid to the reservoir. The fluid was spraying out the return line when pressure was applied to the steering wheel.