97CherokeeFix

Hi Guys,

We recently changed a serpantine belt, AND Idler on our 97 grandcherokee. Today about a week later, we noticed a repetitive sound, and have found that a strand of the belt has frayed already and is beating against the underside of the hood. The belt seems to be drifting back and forth as well, about half an inch or maybe less.






The old belt was cut right in half, to me it didnt look frayed, it looked like maybe it slipped off and got cut somehow.

We have limitied mechanical know how, but I suspect this is just something simple. When we replaced the parts, the only thing wew did was

a)replace the idler ( the old belt was already disengaged)
b) threaded the new belt, wrenched the tensioner pully (spring loaded pulley) and slipped the belt onto its track. We didnt check the tension of the belt so im guessing it might have something to do with that.

Does anyone have any suggestions ? If we find the problem, is it possible we can just trim the belt and keep an eye on it, or will it continue to deteriorate now that it has begun to fray.


Thanks in advance,