trouble with serpentine belt

check all of the pulleys while the belt is off , make sure none are loose and that none are real hard to turn , you may have something locked up casuing the belt to snap the first time and now throwing it off, check it out and let us know

After further inspection the only thing i really found was the air pump pulley seem a little stiff.I know the alternator has to be a little stiff so it creates power.I could turn the air pump pulley easy enough but when i spun it i wasnt sure how its suppose to feel.
Still stumped?

everything on the engine should spin free except for the crank , check the water pump also , you may be on the right rack with the air pump

As i kept on looking for the problem i noticed that the alternator pulley has alot of movement in it.By that i mean when spin it by hand it keeps on turning as if its freewheeling.i remember buying a new alternator and the new one would not spin like that at all.im not saying this is it cuz its charging ok.i just thought there was more resistance when you move the pulley.im not ready to give up and take it in to the shop.what do you think?

this is what caused the first belt to break.you can see where the belt keeps riding off the air pump pulley right after it makes a pass from the fan blade/water pump.

it would seem something may be tighter thaan it should be or locking up , dont give up , you may want to try and checking the belt size aginst the old one and if its ok have a friend help you put the belt back on and have your friend start the car and maybe you would catch something be careful

jim

after more inspection the belt is actualy coming off before the airpump.It is coming off at the waterpump/fan pulley.i checked for play and it wiggled a little bit but not to bad,but its defienatly right at the fan pulley.Would it be the water pump or the pulley itself?sending picture soon

see how the waterpump pully feels as far as being tight and i will wait for the pic

I took the old/new belt back to the auto parts store and bought the best one they had.I took off the new belt tensioner back off.Cleaned the spot off that it set in put it back on and installed the new belt.Whammy it worked fine.Either the other belt i had was either stretched or the belt itself wasnt the right fit.I almost gave up and took it into the shop where im sure it would have cost me hundreds to get it fixed.Thanx for your help and guidance i hope this thread helps someone else out in the future.

Gregg

no problem ,glad to see you got it
jim