My grandson has a 2011 Forde Fusion, 4 cyl (2.5 I think) with around 80K miles. About 2 months ago, he and a riend replaced the idler pulley. About 2 weeks ago, the belt came off of the pulleys on his way home from work. It was towed in to a shop. It turned out that the water pump pulley was wobbling around and 2 of the 3 bolts were sheared off. Bolt heads had actually worn through a wallowed out the pulley. A new water pump and new water pump pulley were installed. The belt, at aroudn 6 weeks old, seemed fine and was put back on. Things have been great until . . .
The belt came off again. He works second shift and the car is along the road, again. Is anyone aware of an issue with the serpentine belt on a 2011 Fusion? Or, any suggestions as to where to turn now, other than towing it back to the same shop?
New belt, new tensioner and new idler pulley . . . you usually get this as part of a kit
Have you seen the car since the belt came off a 2nd time?
you need to make sure ALL of the accessory belt drive components spin freely, don’t wobble and aren’t binding. Also make sure none of them are cocked and that none of the others have missing mounting hardware
Pay close attention to the ac compressor. I’ve seen lots of cars . . . some Fords, fwiw . . . where the ac compressor basically eats ___ and then throws the belt
No, I have not seen it. I heard from my grandson at about a quarter of midnight last night. It is still by the side of the road about 35-40 miles from where I live.
It was done piece meal because the guys started with a belt and idler. I wonder if the idler, which is very close to the water pump, was bad or if what they believed to be a problem with the idler pulley was actually the belt following the loosening water pump pulley? So, the belt was close to new when the water pump and pulley were changed.
It goes around 7 pulleys/idlers so lotsof opportunity to have a hitch in the get along.
I would listen to the advice given here. Several times though on my GM 3800s a worn water pump would allow enough play in the pulley to throw the belt off. Never had a problem once a new pump was put in though. So bad one morning the belt got thrown off. Put it back on and came off again in a block. Another time was able to drive home 50 miles first. No idea what your configuration looks like.
On a 2012 the tensioner bent for no apparently no reason and the belt came off. New belt from either Autozone or Advanced auto was made in Italy and the groves were not deep enough and it was impossible to put it on. Had to get one from OReilly. Actually the belt had to be replaced due to an accident with putting it on one groove off. That’s the end of my experience. The Fusions have a lot of strange problems like this.