Basically I changed the 3 drive belts on my 2007 kia rio a while back and all was good and dandy for a while but for whatever reason I think the new belt I had on the power steering/water pump got too stretched to be usable. It got real noisy and I adjusted the belt as much is it could be adjusted so on the tightest setting it was still loose and making noise so I replaced it. The new belt was doing well for a while but after a couple weeks I had to tighten it to the tightest I can even adjust it, and now a few more weeks this belt is loose again even though it’s already the tightest it can be adjusted so even though the belt looks totally fine and undamaged I guess I have to replace it again? Also replacing this belt is a big pain in the ass because I have to take the alternator belt off first just to get to it so anyways can someone PLEASE tell me WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON. Sorry for my irritation. Thanks in advance for any responses.
I don’t know if it’s even normal for these belts to stretch but that’s twice now so I’m guessing it’s normal for this belt to stretch a little but maybe even though it fits/has the right dimensions or whatever I need to be using a different belt? I got this one from auto zone.
Not that I know anything but I would suspect the belt quality or the wrong size. Use OEM or Gates or Dayton. I would not trust AZ and double check on the proper belt size. It may be an inch too long.
Now I’ll just say this on belts. My mower uses two belts for the drive. It is very particular to use the exact OEM belt. It can’t be 1/2 inch off or the mower won’t go. Menards was closing out the front and rear belts for my mower-same numbers but after-market brand. I bought about three spares at $5 each and thought I had a bargain. Didn’t work. Measuring them they were not even a consistent length from one to another. Threw them away and paid $20-30 for OEM and all is fine. May be a similar case. Just because the numbers match doesn’t mean the length is correct or consistent. Yeah and a pain in the neck to change them.
I’m assuming that since you can adjust the tension on this belt that there is no spring loaded automatic tensioner that might need replaced, right? If no automatic tensioner, all I’d know to try is a new belt. I usually use Gates just because I’m familiar with that brand.
I have no clue if my car has a spring loaded automatic tensioner and this is my first time hearing of it. It’s a 2007 kia rio where would this tensioner be and how could I test it if my car has one?
It would be another pulley on the belt. It’s just an automatic tensioner, which usually takes the place of you being able to adjust the tension yourself.
If there is nothing on the belt other than the power steering pump and water pump pulleys, then you don’t have an automatic tensioner on that belt.
I believe that the Gates website gives much information about the exact size of the belts they sell. I would look for a belt 1/2" to 1" smaller. This would give plenty of adjustment range.
If something like the alternator was ever replaced with a smaller pulley, this would also limit the adjustment range.
Are you sure that the new belts were tight before the range ended?