I have been looking to replace my serpentine belt and figured I can test/replace the tensioner while I'm at it.
RockAuto has kits for Gates, Dayco, ACDelco, and Continental. I also checked Amazon (search for Gates-90K-38332-Complete-Serpentine-Kit). Amazon has the exact same Gates and ACDelco kits for slightly more, but when you factor in shipping it's about the same as RockAuto (plus prime means it will be here in 2 days or less). The strange thing is that under the reviews for the Gates kit, there are about 3 people that have complained (with pictures attached) that the tensioner assembly has cracked or catastrophically failed. My first thought is, did they get a counterfeit part? You can buy from Amazon or a 3rd party and I'm not sure if all people realize seller matters. Or I should avoid ordering from Amazon as their stock is bad? Second thought was, perhaps it is genuine and it's just the fault of the installer? Maybe they used the cup washer on the idle pulley, torqued it down, and then drove a while before it caused it to shatter? Thirdly, maybe Gates quality just isn't that great? And if so, it looks like ACDelco uses Gates parts (I don't know to what extent, but the pulleys have the same part numbers).
So my questions are:
1) What brand/kit of tensioner and serpentine belt have you used on 1G Ridgeline?
2) How would this part fail like those described in Amazon reviews? Has anyone had an experience like that?
RockAuto has kits for Gates, Dayco, ACDelco, and Continental. I also checked Amazon (search for Gates-90K-38332-Complete-Serpentine-Kit). Amazon has the exact same Gates and ACDelco kits for slightly more, but when you factor in shipping it's about the same as RockAuto (plus prime means it will be here in 2 days or less). The strange thing is that under the reviews for the Gates kit, there are about 3 people that have complained (with pictures attached) that the tensioner assembly has cracked or catastrophically failed. My first thought is, did they get a counterfeit part? You can buy from Amazon or a 3rd party and I'm not sure if all people realize seller matters. Or I should avoid ordering from Amazon as their stock is bad? Second thought was, perhaps it is genuine and it's just the fault of the installer? Maybe they used the cup washer on the idle pulley, torqued it down, and then drove a while before it caused it to shatter? Thirdly, maybe Gates quality just isn't that great? And if so, it looks like ACDelco uses Gates parts (I don't know to what extent, but the pulleys have the same part numbers).
So my questions are:
1) What brand/kit of tensioner and serpentine belt have you used on 1G Ridgeline?
2) How would this part fail like those described in Amazon reviews? Has anyone had an experience like that?
