Serpentine Belt Issue - Ripping on One Side

[Just A B8]

Saw that my original belt was ripping on one end. Since we all know the issues of what happens if this breaks I immediately got it replaced. No more than two weeks later and less than 200 miles of driving I saw the same impression on the same side of the new belt. Is anyone else having this issue?


Sorry for the crap pictures. First pic is of the original belt, its a little scary to see. The second pic below is the new belt with the same impression of where the first belt started tearing.


First Belt



New Belt

[DoctorB8]

Looks to be precise. I would check for some sort of obstruction.

[amz]

I know some people were having this problem when they installed one of the lightweight accessory pullies. IIRC the belt wasn't sitting on the idler pulley properly, so I would start there. Get an inspection mirror and check how the belt is sitting on each of the pullies. Looking at your first picture, it looks like the striations in the belt aren't parallel to the edge, so something is definitely not sitting right.

[typ44q]

Could be an alignment problem between the pulleys as if a bracket is slightly bent out of place pushing the belt to the edge of the pulley and causing it to rub on something. Like AMZ said get a mirror and carefully look at how the belt is sitting on each pulley.

[TDIaholic]

Probably a worn out tensioner, which is pushing the belt out of alignment.

[languiduck]

The original belt looks like it jumped a groove, and then ripped off the outside edge of the belt. You've got something trying to pull the belt in or out or misaligned.

[bluetori]

Take the belt back off and check for any play in the pulleys.