Anyone with a 7.3 have poor luck with gouging the power steering pump pulley? I've just had my belt fail for the second time in two months due to a major gouge in the pulley.
This was a brand new belt 8 weeks ago:
First pulley that was replaced:
The new pulley looks much the same but was spotless when I replaced the vacuum pump a month and a half ago.
What gives? Am I kicking up rocks into the serpentine belt when off pavement? I thought initially that I was rubbing the back (smooth) side of the belt and it was failing that way, but after looking more closely, the belt is failing due to flexing over the gouge in the ribbed part of the pulley.
Any ideas on what could either be falling off of the engine/compartment into the belt system or coming up from the road surface to cause this problem? What are the odds that it would happen twice in two months and impact the same pulley in the same place?
I've checked all around the local area of the engine compartment and no fasteners are loose or seem to be missing. None of the other pulleys are damaged or have undue play in the bearings. Unless something is rubbing the backside and when the belt fails the belt itself is causing the gouge, I'm at a loss....
I've got to drive to Reno tomorrow, so I'm doing some filing of the pulley ribs to clean them up and then throw my spare belt on and monitor closely.