I was wondering if anyone can give me an insight how a serpentine belt can fail and get shredded. Currently, my G35X has 65K, and I had the belt replaced at 56K. The car is dealer maintained from day 1 using Schedule 1 with their premium upgrade. I suspect it was either a bad installation or they didn’t replace the belt, but charged me for the service. They are claiming the steering pump failed therefore caused the belt to jump as a result shredded the belt. Now, they are in the process of replacing the auto-tensioner, steering pump and the belt, but charging me for the service. I am wondering if what they are stating can be a true statement.

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

That could be true. If the pump seized and the pulley stopped rotating you could make the belt jump a little and ride on the lip of one of the other pulleys which would start cutting it. I just replaced my belt after about 60k miles and one of the ribs was entirely removed. I'm not completely sure how that happened but it did. Could also be a crappy belt. Crazier things have happened though.

 

Thanks, appreciate the feedback. Now sometime I wished I did purchase the extended Elite warranty. Is there a known problem with our steering pumps?

 

This sounds fishy. If the power steering pump seized, you should have no power steering and that would be noticed immediately while driving. If the idler pulley went bad that might have caused the problem although I doubt that too. At just 65,000 miles I don't see a pump failing especially when the car is properly maintained. During other maintenance your mechanic should have noticed something. I say dealer fault but your chance of getting them to fess up is none existence. My remedy. Learn how to perform maintenance on your own car. You'll understand it better, save tones of money, and you'll know the job was done right the first time.

 

Oem belt or aftermarket?

 

Since he said his car has been dealer maintained since day one. That suggests to me the belt is oem although I don't think that would matter much.

 

Thanks, I am assuming the dealer used OEM belt... The story sounds fishy to me too however, my only recourse is to get my car running again and really start to learn how to maintain my car. As for the steering seizing, my steering only froze when the belt shredded and the lights lit up on my dash. I didn't get any symptons where the steering was tight nor any noise comming from the engine.

 

I would ask for my old part(s). If the power steering pump seized, it should not be able to turn. However I would also check to make sure their are no small animals crawling up into the splash guard. I had a cat crawl under my car and when I went to start my car, the cats hair got caught on my power steering belt causing it to come off. Luckily for me, the belt didn't break or fray so I just re-installed it and all was fine. The cat learned it's lesson.

 

thanks for the input, I did request to see the parts.

 

When your pump seized your belt will come off at the same time. I dont think the dealer is ripping you off. I get all my service done by a nissan dealer. They always do a great job! They told me my left lower control arm was bad.They replaced both lwr contol arems and replaced all the bushings under my warranty! Even though the rt lwr control.arm was good! Infinti cars are not the easiest car to work on if you dont spin a wrench alot.

 

I have to agree with the dealership (a first) when the steering froze the belt would come apart in an instant at highway speed. OE belts are a better quality than what you can buy at the local auto parts stores as are gaskets and various other parts! It is possible when they installed the new belt it was over tightened taking out the power steering pump or the tensioner was the cause of everything...possible!
Gary

 

Gary C makes a valid point regarding over tightening the belt. I had that happen to me when I needed an alternator replaced on a previous car. The shop over tightened the belt causing the new alternator to wear prematurely.

 

I pick up my car over this weekend and I spoke to the tech/mechanic. Based on what he showed me, the steer pump's pulley was warped/bent therefore, caused the belt to jump. The auto-tension was wrapped with the strings from the belt so it had to be replace. The tech/mechanic suspect there was an internal failure in the steering pump. He told me he encountered 4 other cases, but he also stated it wasn't a common problem, but it does happen.

The dealership only charged me for the cost of the parts and absorbed the labor cost.