Ok so heres the deal I changed my oil today and I was trying to do away with my power steering/AC tensioner but my belt wasnt short enough. I thought it was. So I put the tensioner back on and didnt get it in the same place it was farther out and it rubbed a hole in one of my power steering lines and when I pulled in my drive way it gave and I had a huge cloud of smoke come out from underneath my hood. So I replaced the line and started it up and I accidently overfilled my resivoir. I hope overfilling doesnt cause problems. If someone could let me know if it will cause problems please let me know.


But I gave it a rev to help pump some fluid through and I heard the noise of a belt breaking. Well it was my alternator belt the side of it shredded off and I lost a rib. So I tore off that rib the rest of the way and it seems fine for now. Yes I will be replacing the belt but I am trying to figure out what caused it. I think a socket might of fell down into the belts but I dont know if that would cause this. Also would power steering fluid eat my belt or something and cause it to tear like that?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I don't think overfilling the steering fluid will really damage the pump or anything like that. I think the fluid will spill out of the reservoir before damaging the pump. Although, that means you'll spill fluid everywhere, which could cause smoke if it hits the exhaust manifold (or catch on fire). I'd guess it's not healthy for belts, but if they got coated in power steering fliud just keep an eye on them for deterioration and replace if they look bad.

Just suck out the excess fluid with a turkey baster or something and don't worry about it. And don't get rid of the tensioner, it's there for a reason.

If you need to adjust the position of the tensioner then move the power seeting pump itself, it's on a bracket that allows you to move it forward and back.

I think your alternator belt was probably old, or something was rubbing on it (if you did drop a socket in there, that would do it) like the outer timing belt cover. But if everything is lined up right it should not be an issue. Just check the tension on the new belt (there is some kind of device to check it) when you put it on to make sure it is in spec (I don't remember the spec) and eyeball it to make sure it's lined up right.

If it's not then it's the crank pulley (unlikely) or the alternator pulley that's not lined up right.

"Tutto fa brodo."

Todd Scungio
98 RS
15.173 @ 90.70 MPH

And also a 2011 Ralliart

Thanks for the response.

This is a freshly rebuilt motor with brand new belts. I have about 100 miles on the engine. I had installed a UDP on it when I built it. Everything seemed to be lined up. I would think if I had it out of alignment the belt would've given me grief before now. The only thing I think I might have done is over tightened the alternator belt, If I did do that would it tear off the edge of the belt? I figured it would just break if I over tightened it. I will get ahold of a turkey baster and suck some fluid out. When that power steering line started leaking my engine bay smoked so bad I thought it was on fire. I need to get a new tensioner pulley mine got hot tanked at the machine shop on accident and it screams now.

Heres my only other concern is my timing belt, The belt moved it self all the way to the edge of the cam gears (towards the valve cover) it is flush with the edge of the gears so I think its ok but my cam gears appear to wobble a bit. Should I worry about this or does that happen from time to time?

P.S. I am going to have a professional mechanic friend of my dads do a full check of this car here very soon to make sure I didnt mess anything up during rebuild. I am an amatuer and I can make mistakes.

I also wanted to add that my capacitor only reads 12.88 volts with the car running. I am wondering if that is a sign of any problems. Maybe its just my UDP but I guess if I have to ill just switch my alternators since I have any extra one laying around and see if it corrects any problems. I am just not looking forward to changing my alternator belt since theres not much room on the belt side.

I think the timing belt on my car also sits rather flush to one side of the cam gears also (I would have to take a look at it, the car is not near me right now) so I don't think that is a problem as long as there is no obvious rubbing or fraying.

If the alternator belt is too tight it will prematurely fail, and maybe one part of it failing is just how this belt bit the dust.

I have not checked voltage off my alternator with the UDP lately, so I don't know if that voltage is common or not when running with a UDP.

If the UDP was not set flush against the crankshaft that would cause a belt misalignment. If it is possible and you have the time, you could try and heat it up and try and make sure it's pushed on the crank as far as possible.

"Tutto fa brodo."

Todd Scungio
98 RS
15.173 @ 90.70 MPH

And also a 2011 Ralliart

Well it appeared to go on all the way. I put it on with the engine out so it was pretty easy to see how far it went on. I am going to check my alternator belt tension. But if you could see what voltages you are running with the UDP let me know I want to compare. If mine is lower than yours im going to change the alternator.

I run 14 volts at idle and I have a udp.

I have an autometer volt gauge. Maybe your capacitor isn't reading right?