HELP! Burning Supercharger belts!

T-bird4vr

Registered User
I bought my first SC yesterday, and have gone through 2 supercharger belts. They are either slipping, or something is making them really hot. Its a 95. They don't break until 120mph or so. The boost gauge reads 12psi (floored) at speeds below 100, then it starts to climb to 16 or maxs out. Please help!
 
The only thing that would heat the belt up would be slipping.

It could be that the car has a smaller than stock pulley on it and a stock belt. The SC drag at the high rpm's you're seeing for 16psi at 120mph is extremely heavy. That could cause the stock sized belt to slip if the pulley is downsized.

The fix there is a shorter belt. But if it's all stock it could be the tensioner is failing.
 
Is a smaller belt something I could pick up tomorrow, or do I need to order one from supercoupepreformance? If so could you give me a part # or do I just tell the auto parts guy the situation?
Thanks very much!
 
Let me get this right...you have owned the car for one day and already broken two superchrger belts and it only happens when you get over 120 mph.

Put a bigger pulley on the supercharger...and slow down. You sound like a wreck looking for a place to happen.

David
 
Speaking from a Law Enforcement standpoint...

Your an IDIOT!!!!!! Doing 120 miles an hour in a car you don't know is SUICIDE!!!!!

If you want to kill someone, go overseas and kill a terrorist....don't kill an innocent person because you want to go fast. The track is for that..



I have literally taken licenses from young and old for driving like this......


Cars like this command a lot of respect and not a person that wants to drive like an A$$HOLE....

Take this from a guy who has seen too many people dead at accident scenes and way before their time.....


E-mail me for some pics of the wrecks if you don't believe me!!!!!



Don

NJSP
 
I'm sorry, honestly. There was no traffic in sight on a seldom used road, but that still is not an excuse. There is no good one I suspose. It was only for an instant. I bought the car and wanted to see what it would do. Now, besides that if I haven't pissed you off too much for your help, then I have a question. At normal speeds under heavy accerelation the boost does stop at 12psi. Doesn't that imply that it has a normal pulley on it?
 
whoa

Whoa there, It's probably not as bad as he's making it sound lube. He might be doing this in the middle of no where... but i do agree with you on what you said. Do u really have pics of accidents? Sometimes it helps people to see what can actually happen by looking at pics like that and it sometimes knocks a little more sense into them. I would like to see some if you do have some. I do believe it's a good way to in a way "learn" thank you--
-Damon
 
Thanks David. Next would be is there a way to adjust the tensioner? And when I put on the belt this afternoon I thought it might be a little long. It comes about 1 inch from rubbing on itself(traveling the opposite direction) by the tensioner. Is this normal or should there be more clearance?
 
i'm going to have to agree that you should slow down

As much as I hate both cops and speed limits, it is so far from wise to take a car that you have owned for one day and take it to 120mph. I'm not going to take some kind of moral highground saying that you are going to kill someone else, cause chances of that are quite small, and I know that if something like that did happen you would be dead anyway, which you certainly don't want. I don't know what other kinds of cars you have driven, but these cars behave very differently from mustangs, camaros, bmw's, hondas, or whatever else you have likely driven. I'm not knocking your driving skills or anything, and I don't know where you hit 120 or under what circumstances, but at least get used to the car before you go pushing it to speeds like that. I myself have hit speeds in excess of 140, so I am not saying that driving at high speeds is reckless regardless of conditions and circumstances, but not in cars that you don't know inside and out, and certainly not in cars that are having mechanical problems to begin with. Once you get your car running right, and you have experimented with it in empty parking lots and you know the abilities and limitations of your car, trust your own confidence in how fast you want to drive, not speed limits. But don't assume this car behaves the same as your last car, cause that will get you into an accident.
 
I never assumed that. I did drive accross the state to get the car before I attempted these speeds. Granted 5 hrs is near the hundreds everyone else has that I get to look forward to puting in, but I didn't just jump in and hit 120 either. I'm sure this will get comments also so, I get the point. I won't excessively speed in it for a while. But I don't know how I will get the belt problem solved for sure unless I do so. I imagine someone has an idea to slove this practically and safely. So lets see, the belt is more than likely the right size, since the pulley is normal. But it must be slippling at least at higher speeds. This is where I'm lost, is my tensioner bad? Why did the gauge read 16psi before snapping? If it is not slipping then what is making it get that hot? Temp gauge read cool (needle before half mark). Anyone have any thoughts that might help me?
 
I really can't believe what I am reading here. Everyone is jumping on this guys *** for doing something that we all have done! He is asking a question, but no one has really tried to answer because they are all dumbstuck because he took his bird up to 120. Oh please. I will admit that I took my bird up that high probably the first day I owned it.... Just to see. Give Julian a break and welcome him to the community.
Julian-
In regards to the belt. Go ahead and measure the pulley diameter to double check that it is stock. They way it sounds is you have an aftermarket pulley on there and it is slipping until the belt gets hot enough to grab, that is when you see the 16 PSI right before it pops. Double check you have the correct size belt and a good idler pulley on the tensior. If you have an aftermarket pulley, you are going to need a smaller belt or a larger idler pulley, either way should correct this. This might not cure it, but it was the best guess I had!
Regards,
TBSCoupe
 
THANK YOU TBSCoupe!

To tell you the truth I was getting pretty worried the club itself. Not that it should promote illegal behavior, but if everyone jumps done each other's throats instead of helping each other, then why would I want to join such an organization?

What you said for the belt/pulley makes sense, but when I first installed the new belt, it did make boost that stoped at 12psi. Maybe it is a coincidence. When you floor it should it hit 12psi abruptly, or does it depend on rpms and such? This might tell me something. Does anyone know how I might reference the pulley size, or belt length. (what they are or where to look them up?)

I appreciate your honesty TBSCoupe, and yours and the few others that helped me on this post.
 
supercharger lockup?

Oh, I missed read, the idler pulley on the tensioner might be worn out. That sounds very logical. The other thing is, perhaps the supercharger is locking up at the higher stress and the belt problem is side effect. Damn that is probably what it is. What could be causing this? Intercooler? Bad oil?
 
If you haven't changed your SC oil, I would make that a mission. I changed mine after only 58K on the clock and it was NASTY. Made a huge difference in SC sound also. The common replacement of those plastic pulleys is the steel dayco ones. I replaced all mine with the dayco and am very happy. Do a search on this site or the web for the stock pulley sizes to determine if yours is stock. When I changed over my SC pulley, I changed the 2.75 idler pulley to a 3" dayco steel pulley and was able to keep the stock length gatorback belt. IF you are buying a stock length belt for your replacements and you have an overdrive pulley, then that is your problem.
The blower will start fighting back after 13PSI. Eaton blowers are only efficient up to 13 PSI then the heat build will overwhelm any potiential benefit of that and even it out. On my SC project, 13 PSI will be my max. I am there now, so loosing the stock Cats are next to try to drop the PSI to around 11.
Regards,
TBSCoupe
 
Julian,

I believe the stock belt is 8 ribs wide and 39" long. As was already mentioned a stock belt will try to slip at 13-15 pounds of boost. A slightly shorter belt (38"-38.5") or a larger tensioner pulley will help. If tensioner bearings are bad the belt will jump around and may come off. It should turn freely and smoothly with the belt off, so should the supercharger.

You mentioned that it will instantly show 12 pounds then slowly rise with rpms...that is normal also. The colder it is outside the higher your boost will be because cold air is more dense, in summer it will probably only show 10 pounds when you hit the throttle.

Take it easy with the car, and you will both be around awhile.

David
 
FAQ/New Owners

Tbird4vr,
In reading this thread it is pretty obvious that you are new to the car since you just bought it...I think if you went to the New owners/FAQ section and frequented the sight and read problems and solutions you will begin to get more of an understanding of your cars displament and how it does what it does, and maybe why it does what it does as well...

So before you go beatin' the life outta your new ride, do a lil research here..;)

Brad
 
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