Interesting Serpentine Belt Routing
 

I recently joined this forum (which is quite useful) and purchased my first Disco I. Its a 1997 with air. I noticed the serpentine belt was very close to fan shroud and needed replacing. Mine has the routing shown in the photo which definitely doesn't match the spec. routing. Fortunately for previous owners, all the pulleys are turning correctly. Is there any particular reason to route it as shown, or did someone just have a bad day at the shop?

cant think of a good reason to do it wrong......and, a lot of guys have experienced overheating with the belt routed wrong

It's a common mistake. The problem is the alternator pulley gets very little traction. It's easy to fix, and worth memorizing the correct route or sketching it with a sharpie.

When I got mine it had the exact same routing... common but bizzare that people can't look in the manual for the proper one

The belt is in the wrong place, should look like this (at least mine does)..

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Interesting Serpentine Routing
 

Now that you mention it, I can see a way that you could route the belt where the water pump pulley would run backwards and other pulleys would be correct. I suppose water would circulate and fan would blow air toward the radiator, working against the incoming air. I think it would be safe to say that would cause overheating.

Can the serpentine belt routed and running incorrectly cause a chirping noise at start-up, idle, and when driving? I still hear the chirping noise on my 1997 Dscvry. Eliminated the brakes as the cause, and it was suggested to me that I could need to replace the serpentine belt and auto tensioner/ pulley. But, truck seems to run fine, so I've been postponing the repair. Just wondering...:confused:

take the belt off and give everything a spin by hand, that may give you a clue.....then start the engine when cold ( with the belt still off) and let it run for a few seconds to see if the noise stays or goes away...

Thanks, XCELLER8. I read a Forum post that, if the belt does snap while in motion, it can throw parts around under the hood like a grenade going off :eek:. An indy mechanic checked, and the belt was running and routed correctly over the pulleys (not backwards), but it was worn. So, he replaced it. Grenade sales pitch was enough to sell me! Just kidding... :rolleyes:

This is less about the belt snapping than the associated parts breaking (that caused the belt to fail...