AC/PS belt jumped off. Tensioner began jumping sounding like woodpecker. Replaced tensioner plate assembly, Harmonic balancer, power steering pump. Installed new belt. All parts are new. Tensioner still jumps and sounds like woodpecker. Runs fine without AC/PS belt. AC comp spins freely. Pulley in alignment. Now what? Any advise appreciated.

2002 Neon SXT 168k miles Car owned by 1st year College Student. She's on a tight budget.

 

Welcome to the 2nd gen neon forum.
I see you don't have any replies yet, so I'll see if I can get things started.
Sounds like maybe a under load accessory bearing in the belt loop is intermittently seizing up.
Do any of them feel or sound rough when rotated & listened to with your stethoscope, or are making a easily heard noise, or are slightly wobbly/have side to side play?
All pulley bearings should be slightly snug when rotated. They shouldn't spin freely/freewheel when spun. No side to side play/wobble, no roughness felt or heard when rotated.
Did the problem come about suddenly after some event? Have you been having any problems with any accessory on that belt loop, like Why did you replace the power steering pump & harmonic ballancer?
Some thoughts for consideration, let us know what you find.

 

problem started with belt coming off. No problems prior to this. PS replaced due to sticky relief valve and broken pulley. Harmonic Balancer replaced due to the rubber separating from the outer ring. One part failure led to other failures. I installed a new plate with tensioner from ebay. May be that was my mistake, but money played a big factor in where part was bought from. Any thoughts tensioner, although new, could be bad?

 

So the problem began with the power steering pump pressure relief valve sticking & what happened when that occured?

 

Was the idler pulley also replaced?

 

unknown what made the belt come off. Plate and tensioner all replaced as one unit since it comes as a one piece unit.

 

Ok, well if you can see the tensioner jumping in time with the noise, it sounds like a pulley with a bearing that isn't turning freely under load. So was the idler pulley also changed?
EDIT: Was the serp belt changed too?

 

Ive had my belt come off because I didn't torque down the harmonic balance all the way an it was out 1/2 off making my melt fly off this was after my 1st timing belt r&r kit.

 

Well Rambo4id how is the trouble shoot going, curious minds would like to know.

Since so many things have been replaced, use a straight edge to make sure all pulleys are in good edge to edge alignment & all pulleys the serp belt is running on are Clean, that no melted on rubber from the old serp belt down side was deposited when the components on that circuit failed & the running surface of the belt is in good condition if your using the old belt, as you've not indicated the serp belt has been replaced, or if its running surface has been checked.
Again, check the tightness & smoothness of all pulley bearings on this route, as noted above.
More thoughts for consideration, let us know how it goes.

 

I am getting a replacement plate with tensioner. Will keep you all informed.