Belt Breaking

[fireytom]

The alternator/power steering belt on my 1990 Legacy LS seems to break quite often. I thus far have had to replace it 4 times and the car only has 55,000mi on it. I replaced the power steering pump recently because it seemed to be functioning poorly. Currently the car is Iowa having a good bit of repair work done after I was in a wreck. I just wanted know if anyone had any ideas as to why this is happening, and what can be done to correct it.

Thanks,
Daniel

[THAWA]

does it have the correct amount of tension when you finish installing it?

[tris91ricer]

Have you removed your AC? How is the belt positioned on the pullies? I know I've sheared a belt once by having a minute edge of one of the lines(?) off the cam(? the big one) sprocket, and that made it go bang.

[fireytom]

Well as far as tension goes, I usually leave about 1/2 to 3/4in of flex on the longest gap between pulleys. I dont have the car immediately available, so i cant really check the pulley alignment, but I'll have the man who is woking on it take a look. Also, seeing as it is a rather old car, would the alternator possibly going bad have an impact on this situation? When I get it back I plan on purchasing a new alt. because I have somewhat of a passion for car electronics.

[gnuman]

One more thing to check for: are all the pulleys straight? if they are bent, they will seem to "wobble" when the engine is running and that could add to the wear of the belt. . ..