92 sse supercharged,

The front edge of the sc,ac,wp belt was frayed. Today the belt broke. I replaced the belt and the tensioner pulley (from plastic to metal). On closer inspection it looks like the tensioner pulley is not parallel with the other pulleys. Do you agree this is my root problem? Here are some pics:





I can get a tensioner used for $15. New is about $56 with shipping from gmpd. Money is very tight. Would I be wasting my time and money buying used? Also, I read something about possible compatibility with a tensioner from a non sc 3800. I can likely get a tensioner more cheaply and with a swap guarantee local if I can use a tensioner from a non sc engine. The only place I can get parts from a sc engine is an hour away, returning to swap would be costly.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

Your pulley look fine to me?


Only thing I can think of is maybe you had a wobbly pulley.

I had that problem a while back. The whole assembly had to come off and be replaced. Some how it was just off. I bought one from auto zone and I had a friend who knows cars help me replace it. You will probobly be better of to replace the whole part. If I remember correctly, coolent goes through the tensioner your talking about.

Autozone shows belt tensioner not available for a 92 3800 sc.

I checked advance auto and nothing there either. As far as I can tell I am restricted to junkyard or gmpd part # 24501383

Yup, just did an plastic idler pulley to metal swap today on the main serpentinepulley on my 95.
The coolant lines do run through right near the sc idler pulley (similar to the poor design zzp used for the ic hoses for their ic setups, but at least ours are brass(?) pipes until outside the belt).