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JimmyP
07-03-2002, 11:27 AM
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this situation? -- I was out on the lake last Friday cruising along at about 40mph when I heard a loud crack. I backed off to idle and immediatly checked my gages -- the was temp rocketing up -- I shut the engine down and pop the hatch. First thing I see is the serpintine belt on the floor of the engine compartment -- on further inspection I can see that the power steering pump pulley has cracked where it attaches to the pump drive spindel.

Here are my questions -- what whould have caused this failure / has anyone else experienced this / anyone surprised that this pulley was made of plastic / anyone recommend an upgrade replacement pulley?

FYI, this is a 1998 22 Classic with the 7.4

Jim

Ranman
07-03-2002, 11:57 AM
A few weeks ago I went to get a new serpentine belt for my 97 350 MAG MPI motor. My local merCruiser dealer told me that I cannot buy just the belt and that it was no longer available.

What they did offer me was a replacement steel power steering pulley and new belt as a "kit" for somewhere around $100. The guy at the parts counter said there were issues with the plastic power steering pulleys breaking and the update to this was the kit he was offering. I would bet this is the same case with your 7.4L.

At the time I didn't buy the kit since you have to pull off and press on the new pulley. On an 18 this requires pump removal due to clearance. I was just trying to be proactive and put a new belt on prior to AOTH II. I will however, make the change in the off season, unless of course a similar situation to yours necessitates it.

Hope this info helps. Randy

Bad-Tat
07-03-2002, 01:20 PM
If Mercury doesn't have the belt any longer you might try PEP Boys. I was able to get the belt I needed there for a 5.0L tansplant in a 73 F100 with just the length measurement. Still running after 3 years.

Ranman
07-03-2002, 01:25 PM
Bill, I knew I could get a belt from them, but now that I've learned the pulley may be weak, I'll wait and get the steel pulley which may require a different size belt. Thanks for the suggestion though. Randy

Ranman
07-03-2002, 03:17 PM
Poodle, The Merc part # is as follows: 57-861757A-1. The price given by my local Merc dealer is $119.70. Randy

AVickers
07-03-2002, 03:41 PM
Sounds like a product liability issue to me...and MerCruiser should be forced to bite the bullet for it.

EVERYONE with a setup like this should contact MerCruiser (with their lawyer, if necessary) and insist that they GIVE you the upgrade parts along with a certificate for shop time at an authorized dealer to do the swap! If it breaks pulleys and overheats engines and leaves you stranded in the middle of nowhere, it should have been a recall deal.

(Plastic Pulleys -- give me a f*ckin' break... If they don't sell belts for this setup any more, they are certainly aware that they have a problem with this setup. Why are they making you, the consumer, pay for their screwup????? Especially if the use of the part was to save themselves a couple of bucks that you'll never see in the reduced price of their equipment?)

Bad-Tat
07-04-2002, 07:10 AM
Being as the pump is std GM you might try Napa for a replacement pully. I was able to get a steel idler pully to replace the plastic one on that 5.0.

Murphy
07-04-2002, 04:27 PM
I may get stomped for this comment, but many mechanics overtighten belts. This bottoms-out the belt down into the deepest part of the "V" on the pulley and puts alot of stress on the belt, the pulley, and the bearings of the pump or alternator involved. In a worst case scenario it can make an engine hard to start and decrease performance. V-belts should be lightly to moderately tensioned so that they ride on the top of the pulley rails, never stretched until they bottom out. Is it possible that tensioning had something to do with the part failure in this case?

Murph

Rootsy
07-04-2002, 06:07 PM
My 1997 5.7 has all steel pulleys except for the idler which is polymer and this worries me to some extent... the high speed harmonics can be deadly on polymer pulleys, as well as the cyclic compressive loads they see... I reckon the pulleys are probably injected of glass filled PBT which is extremely hard and fairly tough but it is brittle and will experience a fatique life if overloaded. if your process drifts out of control enough and don't get a homogenous well packed shot and end up with flowlines you end up with a weak pulley... i'd be very skeptical to use a polymer pulley. but hey they are lighter, easier to manufacture and most important to the bigwigs... cheaper...

MOP
07-04-2002, 08:03 PM
The pullys are failing all over heck, Merc should do something. But I bet they won't! Example go into any big merc dealership and look at the douprop merc drives, first thing you will think is how could so many douprop guys screw up thier skegs. Take a closer look you will see the drives are burning up from electrolisis. Local merc dealer has complained they will not even get back to him, hey gear housings are not cheap. They have a problem that has been going on for nearly 10 years with no fix or acknowledgement of a problem. 7 0ut of 8 of our regular cuatomers drives are pretty bad, the eight guy trailers.