# Serpentine belt issues



## The Mailman (Oct 22, 2003)

My sister has a 2003 passat GLX w/ 98k miles. I replaced the timing belt, water pump, idlers, etc about 10,000 miles ago & today while doing an oil change noticed that there is a line running down the middle of the entire serp belt (non ribbed side). I felt the belt & noticed that it is actually raised some which means the area on either side is being worn down. The only pulley that touches that side of the belt is the idler & when I looked down at that, I noticed chunks of the ribbed section missing - further inspection of the belt showed chunks missing throughout & lots of large cracks in the ribs & some ribs were seperating from the smooth part of the belt. 

All parts were from Blauparts which I believe are of good quality. What would cause this? Also, anyone have a route diagram of the belt? Her car doesn't have one & I put it on the only way that made sense to me (and I doubt it would've lasted this wrong or accessories all worked if I was wrong), but something can't be right.


----------



## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

You sure tensioner and tensioner pulley are in good shape..bad bearings on pulley could cause belt wear. I bought a tensioner (about $60) from Blauparts and replaced that (pulley makin bad noises) when I did serp belt the second time on my 2000 GLX...on my other VW's you could just change the tensioner pulley itself for about $10 or so and so I always changed 'em out on second belt change (75K miles or so)...just a thought...:thumbup:


----------



## Slimjimmn (Apr 8, 2006)

yea most people dont understand that their belt with 100k miles on it also has a tensioner with 100k miles on it.


----------

