1996 Grand Caravan 3.3L belt tensioner issue

My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.

I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the old
belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
that that'll do it anyways.

Any suggestions?

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.
>
> I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the old
> belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
> ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
> tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
> turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
> that that'll do it anyways.
>
> Any suggestions?
>

Well first of all if your water pump went bad the chances of the belt
tensioner caused it and the squealing.
The tensioner is a self adjusting part. If it is seized up it will cause
damage to the water pump and cause the belt to squeal. If the tensioner has
never been replaced now would be a good time to do it.
Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

Nononononono... I caused it to seize. You know the little hole that
drips coolant when the seal goes bad??? Well... me being the lazy-ass
procrastinator I am, instead of changing the pump, I plugged up the
hole. The pump eventually seized and I replaced it the next morning.

Odd part about it was that I picked up a new pump the morning it seized.

if it isn't moving it is siezed

" wrote:

> My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.
>
> I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the old
> belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
> ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
> tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
> turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
> that that'll do it anyways.
>
> Any suggestions?

"philthy" > wrote in message
...
> please explain your version to me so i can learn on how a bad tensoner
would
> break a otherwise good
> waterpump??
>
> maxpower wrote:
>
> > > wrote in message
> > ups.com...
> > > My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.
> > >
> > > I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the
old
> > > belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
> > > ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
> > > tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
> > > turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
> > > that that'll do it anyways.
> > >
> > > Any suggestions?
> > >
> >
> > Well first of all if your water pump went bad the chances of the belt
> > tensioner caused it and the squealing.
> > The tensioner is a self adjusting part. If it is seized up it will
cause
> > damage to the water pump and cause the belt to squeal. If the tensioner
has
> > never been replaced now would be a good time to do it.
> > Glenn Beasley
> > Chrysler Tech
>

Your misdiagnosing allot of vehicles dirty

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

"maxpower" > wrote in message
. ..
>
> > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> > My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.
> >
> > I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the old
> > belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
> > ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
> > tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
> > turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
> > that that'll do it anyways.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
> >
>
> Well first of all if your water pump went bad the chances of the belt
> tensioner caused it and the squealing.
> The tensioner is a self adjusting part. If it is seized up it will cause
> damage to the water pump and cause the belt to squeal. If the tensioner
has
> never been replaced now would be a good time to do it.
> Glenn Beasley
> Chrysler Tech
>
>

The tensioner doesen't have to seize to go bad. All the tensioner does is
use
a big spring to apply tension to the belt - and you ever notice how over
time the
springs in your sofa get crushed down and sag and lose their springiness?
Same
thing happens here. Once the tensioner's spring has sagged it won't apply
the
right tension and the belt will start slipping, which makes it squeal.

Ted

My tensioner was making a heck of a racket - a very high pitched
squeel, difficult to hear, and even more difficult to pinpoint the
location. Once I did, I shut the engine down, released the tension and
slipped off the belt. I then spun the tensioner spindle by hand. You
could hear that the bearing was shot.

After consulting this group, I learned that I was right in the mileage
range that these tensioners tend to "go". I had the tensioner
replaced, and voila! problem solved.

Only thing that concerned me was that the original tensioner had a
metal wheel on it. The new one is plastic! <sigh>

Oh well...

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 09:33:04 -0800, "Ted Mittelstaedt"
> wrote:

>
>"maxpower" > wrote in message
...
>>
>> > wrote in message
>> ups.com...
>> > My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.
>> >
>> > I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the old
>> > belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
>> > ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
>> > tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
>> > turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
>> > that that'll do it anyways.
>> >
>> > Any suggestions?
>> >
>>
>> Well first of all if your water pump went bad the chances of the belt
>> tensioner caused it and the squealing.
>> The tensioner is a self adjusting part. If it is seized up it will cause
>> damage to the water pump and cause the belt to squeal. If the tensioner
>has
>> never been replaced now would be a good time to do it.
>> Glenn Beasley
>> Chrysler Tech
>>
>>
>
>The tensioner doesen't have to seize to go bad. All the tensioner does is
>use
>a big spring to apply tension to the belt - and you ever notice how over
>time the
>springs in your sofa get crushed down and sag and lose their springiness?
>Same
>thing happens here. Once the tensioner's spring has sagged it won't apply
>the
>right tension and the belt will start slipping, which makes it squeal.
>
>Ted
>

--

"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "maxpower" > wrote in message
> . ..
> >
> > > wrote in message
> > ups.com...
> > > My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.
> > >
> > > I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the
old
> > > belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
> > > ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
> > > tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
> > > turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
> > > that that'll do it anyways.
> > >
> > > Any suggestions?
> > >
> >
> > Well first of all if your water pump went bad the chances of the belt
> > tensioner caused it and the squealing.
> > The tensioner is a self adjusting part. If it is seized up it will
cause
> > damage to the water pump and cause the belt to squeal. If the tensioner
> has
> > never been replaced now would be a good time to do it.
> > Glenn Beasley
> > Chrysler Tech
> >
> >
>
> The tensioner doesen't have to seize to go bad. All the tensioner does is
> use
> a big spring to apply tension to the belt - and you ever notice how over
> time the
> springs in your sofa get crushed down and sag and lose their springiness?
> Same
> thing happens here. Once the tensioner's spring has sagged it won't apply
> the
> right tension and the belt will start slipping, which makes it squeal.
>
> Ted
>
>

Hey Ted, What normally causes the tensioner to sag is the fact that it
starts to lock up. Hit the accelerator pedal and watch the tensioner spring
forward... when the tensioner seizes up it does not spring forward and pulls
on the water pump. Have you ever seen a tensioner completely snap off?
That's because the tensioner is not doing its job and twists at the stud
which over time will just break off. Since the water pump bearing is weaker
then the stud, the water pump goes out first.
Most people simply replace the water pump as Dirty does. And when the
tensioner is seized up the water pump will normally fail again.
Bu your right the tensioner does not have to seize up to go bad.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

on the 2003 Caravan, is the tensioner the same design. Instead of waiting
for it to go bad, is there a mileage we should change it as preventative
maintenance.
Tx


"philthy" > wrote in message
...
> if it isn't moving it is siezed
>
> " wrote:
>
>> My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.
>>
>> I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the old
>> belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
>> ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
>> tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
>> turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
>> that that'll do it anyways.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>

On 21 Mar 2006 10:37:37 -0800, "
> wrote:

>My belts are squealing on my battlecruiser.
>
>I replaced my belt and water pump (it seized on me and shredded the old
>belt) a few months ago and the new belt I installed has been squealing
>ever since. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to adjust the
>tensioner on this thing to make it stop. How do I do it? I've tried to
>turn the nut on it and can't get it to budge and I'm not all that sure
>that that'll do it anyways.
>
>Any suggestions?


On a 3.3, I had a tensioner seize and snap completely off with
relatively low mileage.Put the pivot stud in torsion and twisted it
off. popped the belt in two when it did it. vehicle didn't have 20K
on it. I would check the bearing and replace the tensioner if it is
not free and quiet.

Frank