Q: 2006 Ford Fusion new belt falling off
My wife’s 2006 Ford Fusion had been squealing for quite some time and the belt eventually ripped off. It was the original belt so I assume it just wore down. I bought a new belt and installed it. Drove about 10 minutes and it was fine but when we backed out of the driveway later it had come off. After installing it 5-6 more times it would come off within seconds of the car starting up. I’m fairly certain I had the routing correct but am wondering what could potentially be causing this. The old belt never slipped off, it just snapped in half due to wear.
Basically I’m wondering if it’s user error or potentially another issue? Have someone from yourmechanic set to come tomorrow but I’m worried I will be out the money if It’s more complex than just putting the belt on correctly.
My car has 146000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.
The most likely cause of the belt falling off would be a damaged pulley. It’s possible that one of the police has been seized up due to lubrication in the bearing drying out. It’s also possible that one of the pulleys has a chip on the edge of it that is causing the belt to slide off. The bottom center pulley is the crankshaft pulley and should not be able to be spun by hand with the engine off. However all other pulleys should spend by hand with the belt off and should have very little resistance or noise. The power steering pump pulley maybe a little harder to turn than the others due to the fact that it has hydraulic fluid under pressure in it. However if any of the tensioner or idler pulleys have scratching noises or if they are completely stuck, this could be why your belt is falling off.
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