1997 Caravan came in last year with the serpentine belt broken. I replaced and we went on our way. 6000 miles later, the serpentine belt has come off again.

I checked the pulleys for any roughness and to be sure everything is running true and everything looks good. There is good tension on the tensioner.

If something wasn't running right in the belt path, I would expect the belt to come off fairly quickly rather than 6000 miles later.

So does anyone have any suggestions on what could be goin on here? Is there a TSB that I have missed, maybe that addresses this?

Thanks for any help.

 

I am going to assume 3.3 / 3.8, what normally happens is the tensioner starts to lean out and cause the belt to climb off the pulleys. When you put the belt back on and start it, the belt will be riding on the edge of the tensioner pulley. As it fails more, the belt will fall of quicker so give that a look.

 

Silly Dog. I meant to mention it's a 3.0. I found a TSB about revising the tensioner if the belt comes off in the snow, but I don't know if it would only come off in six inches of snow or if other things would cause it come off.

TSB 07-02-97

 

Very old and common problem. There are kits on the market to prevent the belt from slipping off if a new tensioner doesn't do it.

 

So Cougar, we just need a new tensioner and maybe the updated parts in the TSB?

 

May be as simple as a new tensioner. May be more complex. People have gone through nightmares with repeated belt throws after changing the tensioners and pulleys, realigning this pulley or that, installing this or that brand of belt. When all else fails the various kits tend to do the trick. Unfortunately, the fix varies from van to van.

 

OEM belts come with 1 smooth side and 1 ribbed side, there is a Kit our there with both sides ribbed to prevent slipping off the pulleys. but to use those type of belts you will need to replace the smooth pulleys with ribbed one so that it will bite better. I've seen some on ebay or some mopar sites but I'm sure this will prevent it from ever slipping off again.

 

So this van is coming back for the belt. I found a kit from NAPA - 38342K - that has the double-ribbed belt, new grooved tensioner and new grooved idler. Has the double-sided belt been a permanent fix?

 

Yes.. It fixed the slipping issue and also the possible noise issue as well.