Serpentine belt snapped off yesterday, whatevs. So I put the new one on, and everything looks good. Nothing hanging off the edge of any of the pulleys and it's seated. I start up car and second time this happened, the edge of the belt gets ripped off. Like shredded.. Has anyone ever dealt with this? Maybe it is the tensioner?

 

Which side of the alternator pulley belt was shredded, inside or outside?

 

You crank pulley could be failing (outer pulley getting separated).

 

^^^ This seems like the most likely cause.

 

That was my assumption, but I wanted to find out what side of the belt is being frayed prior to making that recommendation.

This is a "most likely candidate", but I'll still wait for a reply on which side is frayed.

Crankshaft pulley replacement isn't too cheap if you stick with an OEM pulley.

 

It was torn on the outside.

 

I assumed it was the inside and the multi belt was possibly rubbing against the PS belt if the outer CS pulley shifted inward.

Do you have any "wobble" in the alternator or air conditioning pulley, or the tensioner?
Is your tension to specification (deflection wise)?
Are you using an OEM multi belt?

It is possible the outer CS pulley shifted inward, and the multi belt rode up the outer edge of the pulley and shredded. When I had a CS pulley failure in November, I had a squeal from the PS belt rubbing against the outer CS pulley, since it shifted inward. It appears you may have a different failure mode since it's your multi belt that's failing.

 

No wobble that I know of. I always tighten the tensioner. I'm using Delco, and unsure of what brand it was last time. The tear is on the outside facing the wall. There is no contact between the power steering belt. Maybe the CS pulley did shift? You can't spin it by hand, so I wouldn't know. It did make a noise after the whole incident. Almost like a whining sound but eventually it went away after I drove it. Keep it mind, there is oil leaking down from the camshaft sensor.

 

The belt could wear on either side if a pulley is out of alignment because it depends on which pulley is causing the wear. If the crankshaft pulley was working its way off away from the engine, the belt would rub on the inside edge of the crankshaft pulley.

At the same time, the same misalignment causes the belt to rub on the outside edge of the alternator pulley. As a result, the belt ends up getting rubbed on both edges. Which side of the belt will show wear depends on which pulley has a less slick surface.