So got off work early today and thought I'd head home for a relaxing Thanksgiving break...but then sh*t hit the fan...
cruising down the dulles toll road today and i start smelling burning rubber and coolant. looked at my guage cluster and my battery light is lit up and my temp gauge is hitting the H.....

i pull over and shut the car off and look under the hood and see that there is some coolant splattered around and massive amounts of rubber bits strewn around the engine bay and i see that my fairly new gatorback belt has been ripped to shreds....

not sure how this happened but maybe the belt was loose and skipped off the pulley under boost maybe...not sure but guess we'll never know what else could have caused the belt to be ripped to shreds...

i'm having Jim Allen with Tischer get a look at it to ensure no other major damage was done...I'm hoping my 2-3mins of driving without a belt didn't cause any other major engine damage...

so just outta curiosity, anything I should look at? should I get a compression test done?

anyways, i'm gonna enjoy my thanksgiving break(at least 1 day) before worrying about the car...

i'll try and take some pics on friday when i head to the dealership...

 

Sorry to hear that. So the belt ripped, came off the pulley, and whacked a radiator hose?

 

i checked the radiator hoses and they were intact, it looks like the fluid came out the reservoir...wondering if the water pump failed and if so how it's tied to the belt...

 

hopefully everythings ok

 

does anyone have the part number for the belt we use with the supercharger?

also, anyone with the auto-tensioner installed? what was the belt model you guys used?

 

I thought the waterpump ran off the chain, not the belt?

 

It does run off the chain.

 

My serpentine belt from my old 98 Chevy flew off (idler completely shattered) on the NJT doing 70mph. Very scary experience seeing the temp gauge rise and of course, no power steering. That engine had a cast iron block so the damage was almost non-existant (it will go back to its original shape despite the sudden increase in temp)...but Aluminum blocks are much more susceptible to deforming. I'm not too fimilar with SC belts though. I hope you didn't drive 2-3mins with the engine overheating! Don't think this is possible w/o something "exploding". Good luck. Work some OT from now till Christmas to help pay for repairs. For now, eat up and enjoy Thanksgiving.

 

Sorry to hear this jason, keep us informed what the prognosis is, and if you ever figure out what the cause was. Other S/C owners will surely want to know. It will be interesting if there are any S/C related failures due to mileage. I sure hope not and this was as "easy", but still unfortunate, as a low-quality belt.

 

Uh no....the waterpump is driven by the accessory belt.

 

What you're looking for is damage caused by the overheating (usually a blown headgasket) and 99% of the time a compression test will not tell you this. Often when the headgasket is damaged the cylinders push a small amount of combustion gasses out into the cooling system. There are several ways to look for this, I usually use our smog machine "sniffer" over the top of the open radiator with the engine warm and under load. Any indicated hydrocarbons means the headgasket (or rarely the block or cylinder head) is damaged.

As I understand it the K-series engines are fairly tolerant of short term overheating, so hopefully you'll be OK.

As for belts I'd stick with Honda or Gates (who supply many of Honda's belts). Goodyear belts are junk from my experience.

 

Cmon...it's a Honda....what damage?

 

Will this be the 1st recorded reliability issue with the Comptech SC setup?

 

I don't think it's a reliability issue, i was looking over at the clubrsx forum and there are quite a few threads/posts on the gatorbelt being ripped up and such...the actual m62 unit has been fine so far...

from reading the posts over at clubrsx it looks like a couple variables play into this sorta failure, the belt, the tensioner...

luckily i have a spare gatorbelt at home, i'll have to get it on tomorrow...


does anyone with the s/c setup run another type of belt? if so what brand/model?

 

Sorry to hear the news, but I hope everything works out. Happy-day-after-Thanksgiving everybody.

 

Anyone have the full size details for the S/C belt so we can see if there is a substitute? If Gates makes one in the right size, I'd personally use that. If you haven't called Comptech themselves yet, you might want to do that. Hopefully someone is there working today.

 

yeah, i have a spare gatorbelt at home but will def be looking for an alternative...

Jim Allen was able to find more damage to the idler pullies and the tensioner assembly for the comptech kit..so it looks like i will need those parts...this might be a good time to get the auto-tensioner kit installed instead.....

I've left a voicemail with Comptech so hopefully will hear something back from them on Monday...I'm also pretty sure they will cover these parts under warranty as well...

 

Ouch...that sucks, Jason. Sorry to hear.

Glad to hear that Tischer is helping you take care of it though.

 

finally got in touch with comptech and Nate helped me out alot with the parts needed. Hopefully will have the car back up and running sometime next week!!

 

Has anyone installed the Auto-tensioner? If so, did you have a DIY or the instructions that Comptech sent with it?

Let me know!!!

 

J, there is a big writeup with pics on clubRSX. Won't be exactly the same but hopefully it will help you. Check the supercharger section on the forum.

I have instructions that came with my Autotensioner, but I have that at my other house. I moved to a place closer to work, and don't go home as often. If you need them, let me know though. I should be able to get them to you, but it might take a few days for me to pick them up.

 

So worked with Jim and Comptech and we replaced the idler/tensioner pullies due to failures of the bearings...put everything back together and found that the belt was not staying on it's track. Determined that the P/S relocation mount was damaged as well due to the idler pulley failure....Part# 357-203F from Comptech. Everything is back up and running now, just breaking in the belt...

Major props to Nate and Ryan for looking out! I have nothing but praises for their customer service. Major props to Jim Allen for putting up with me as well!

It's been close to 1 month without my car but it's now back!! See you on the road!

 

Glad to hear that you got it all straightened out J! So you're still running the static tensioner not the auto tensioner then?

 

yep still running the static tensioner...probably will install the auto-tensioner in the spring..