Yeah the new belt came with my pulley.

 

Oh good. When I did my install, I didn't have to tighten the belt. Just route the belt, and then release the tension pulley and you should be good to go.

 

So while driving my power steering went out and battery light came on the dash. Pulled over and popped the hood and I can see my gates belt is just sitting there with no tension. Also strangely after pulling over the car just rolls (idle) and pushing the gas does nothing. Had the car towed to Nissan cause its raining and late and I don't feel like dealing with it tonight.

Anyone else had their gates belt "slip off" while driving? Or straight up break?

 

Sorry to hear that, Ghozt. That sucks, but hopefully it's not anything serious. It's possible the auto-tensioner failed or the belt itself failed. Keep us posted!

 

This. Hope it's nothing big!

 

the auto tensioner failed. 563 parts/labor. ugh.

 

Ouch! I freakin' hate when those things go. Happened on my very first car, 1993 Mercury Sable, ugly as sin but it did the job for a couple years. Anyways, i was driving down the Mass Pike and the belt slipped off and **** went haywire. No power steering, no cooling, engine started overheating, smoke coming from the hood. Scared the crap out of me even though I knew exactly what had happened.

Got it towed to the only shop open at 10pm and had them take a look at it. The springs for the tensioner were shot and the bearings were worn causing the belt to go slack. I had them tighten the pulley to its highest tension and drove it home (20 miles) like that, squealing the whole way.

Had my uncle, a mechanic, replace the tensioner the next day. Part cost was about $25 but you need a special tool or something. Most of the cost is in the labor. I was being quoted about $400 for the Sable more than a decade ago. Because everything in the engine bay of the Max is crammed in there I can't even imagine how much of a b!tch it is to get to it.

Though didn't you do the UDP yourself??? You could prolly do this too and save yourself some money.

 

Yeah I did the pulley install, although I did have a friend end up helping me get the pulley off cause I didn't have a breaker-bar to get it off. I saw on CourtesyParts the part itself is like $90 and I could most likely save some loot taking this to my buddy or doing it myself but like you mentioned it looks much harder to get to than the UD pulley. I'm not a mechanic just handy with tools and I learn quickly so I think this time around I'm just gonna eat the cost and just let Nissan fix it.

For those on the fence about an extended warranty; it may not be the _worst_ idea in the world..

 

I meant to ask in the other post but how does the belt look? Sometimes the belt doesn't fare too well when it flies off the pulleys. And given that it's an aftermarket belt (right?) it might be more of a pain to replace, if it needs to be.

 

It's the aftermarket Stillen belt yeah. I'm ordering another one right now anyway. They made no mention of the belt but they knew I have the UD/lightbelt pulley and smaller belt going into this.

Looking at the factory service manual the install of the part doesn't look that complex, and the auto tensioner is only $100...but I'd still have to get it towed back to my house and wait for the part to arrive + have a rental while I'm waiting. Under different circumstances I'd probably just order the part and replace it myself but this is my DD..

 

Damn.. How long till you back up and running ?

 

part was out of stock so looks like Tuesday. they say it doesnt look like i drove long with it broke (I didn't) so most likely didn't damage the alternator or battery

 

i should have the whip back tomorrow. going to have some fun with the service manager and have him explain how a 4 step repair process somehow took hours of labor. ill make sure i get a partial refund since this is ludicrous; you take the front right wheel off, you take the fender liner off, you take 3 bolts off the auto tensioner, you remove/replace with a new auto-tensioner unit, re-attach 3 bolts, lock the tensioner so you can install the gates belt, unlock the tensioner allowing it to "tension", replace liner, replace wheel. id say hour and a half tops unless you're a drunk monkey.

also question for other people who did their own Stillen UDP install; did you notice if it positioned the belt in relation to the auto-tensioner differently at all? I'm wondering if the different size pulley/smaller belt changed the pressure/direction the auto-tensioner was being pushed. you think the pulley is related to the failure of this part at all?

 

i have had the Stillen Pulley for about four months now. i havent had any problems, revs harder though. its a cool mod....

 

Damn that's a bummer Ghost! As far as the tensioner failing as a result of the part, it's hard to tell! But I'd say highly unlikely as the pulley size only took a little of the belt in size! I could see if the tensioner was already maxed out when you installed the UDP, but not if it wasn't! On the contrary, would you consider this a good mod to purchase?! Did you fell anything different?!

 

Looks like the power steering pump needs to move too so that's what bumped up the labor charge. They also said they dont think the STILLEN pulley had anything to do with the failure and its just a part that occasionally fails. At 500 a pop I'd grab that extended warranty if you're on the fence about it. Happy to pick up my baby today!

 

Did you ask them if they thought this would be covered by an ESC if you tried to make a claim? I'd expect a tough time trying to get Nissan to cover this if you did, theoretically, make a claim, especially since you've already got an aftermarket pulley and belt installed.

Sucks about the cost but c'est la vie.

Glad everything worked out in the end!

 

I'll definitely ask if it would have been covered. From what the tech said it sounds like yeah. He said he's replaced auto-tensioners on other Maximas as well before. Yeah the cost isn't what I was expecting but at least it's tax time so no hole in my pocket.

 

Well that's good news!

 

Got my whip back everything drives great. If I didn't know any better I think the new auto-tensioner added 5 HP lol

The mechanic said the UD pulley wouldn't have been an issue if this was warranty work since they see them fail on stock cars too.

 

So it was simply the auto-tensioner then? Sheesh. Well, glad you got your ride back! Too bad it costs $500 to get it swapped out. Definitely considering that extended warranty now (mine expires soon).

 

From what I gather since the power steering pump needed to move that includes draining the power steering, removing the ends of the hoses, removing the pump, etc, re-installing it all and refilling my power steering fluid. Makes more sense.

Yeah an unfortunate bump in the road, but could have been worse.

 

Eh, Reading this is definitely telling me not to get the Pulley..anymore.

 

You must have ignored all the posts where the pulley had nothing to do with the failure... but I won't argue with you because I personally don't care if you get the part or not to each their own.

 

Glad you got your car back and all is well.. hope the dealer don't start selling Sequential Tail Lights all of a sudden.

 

I had one of the younger technicians there hatin' on me a bit. The sales people all know me and love my ride but the guy who brought my car around for me just got out and didn't respond when I said "thanks". Got some dirty looks from him as he walked away and I was "sequencing" my way out of the parking lot. Haters gon' hate!

 

I probably did. All I seen was you complaining and figured you must know everything so I decided I wouldn't get it. But, I don't care whether you give a f or not.

 

you should try reading the posts again, cause this is a great example where i DONT know what I'm talking about. i only posted in here cause i thought it was related. if what you took away from this is to not get the Stillen UD pulley, not sure how but more power to ya bro! and you quite obviously give a F, because you just changed your mind based on what i posted.

 

Why do you think the tech was bein a douche?


I wouldn't let this deter you from buying the UDP. Tensioners go bad for a number of reasons. Springs, bearings, controls arms, etc.

Ghozt - Did the d!ck tech tell you what exactly went wrong with the tensioner? Or did he just keep d!ckin on?

 

It was just the way the guy was mugging me. Just a stark contrast to the sales guys giving me dap and saying take care of her

Nah he didn't go into too much detail other than it is a moving part and moving parts wear down. I asked how many times they've done auto tensioners and he said personally he's seen about 10 at that dealership

 

The service and tech guys all act like Nissan gave a free car to me and not them. All except this one guy.

 

Whatever makes you sleep at night Dan Evans...

and you are right Jam_Roc! But, I have heard from others in my area that the Stillen Pulley isn't too good for the car. I have been iffy for quite some time now.

 

ah i see. so you listened to me when i said I thought the UD pulley was the problem, but want to ignore me when technicians confirmed it isnt. ill let you figure out how that makes sense. sometimes i feel like you just start arguments because its what you love to do.

 

Hey..there has to be one of those guys on every forum. So, what? I like being that guy..atleast I am helpful and cool most of the time!

 

Could've just been having a bad day. If he was really hating, he'd have likely made a comment about the car.

 

True...

 

Don't mean to revive such an old thread but I'm just really curious. Does anyone who had this mod remember how much it cost to install in a shop? Just curious because I am contemplating this as my next performance mod but I don't want to get screwed on labor charges. Thank you