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Old 11-21-2013, 08:54 PM
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Burned Serpentine Belt Rubber fused to Pulleys; Removal

This did not happen on a Mercedes but It can happen to anything with a
Serpentine Belt.

Without warning My Alternator bearing seized and I was in heavy slow traffic on a Bridge so I kept the Engine running.

You could smell the Rubber burning and hear some squealing but I got off of the Bridge and decided to try to make it the 1/4 mile home.

Not soon after deciding that the Belt Broke causing a loss of Power Brakes (the Power Brakes are Hydraulic) and Power steering.

While the Temp Gauge had not hit the red line when I pulled in the Driveway My Coolant was Boiling.
I shut down and used the Garden Hose on the Radiator to stop the Coolant Boiling.

After every thing Cooled down I found I could not turn the Alternator and that one of the Plastic Pulleys was burned and rubber coated.

Worst was the Power Steering Pulley had Rubber vulcanized to it shown in the Pic; but, the Crank Pulley was also coated with some burnt Rubber.

This thread is really about removing the Melted Rubber from the Pulleys. I tried 3 Chemicals and even let it sit overnight with Brake Fluid on it and that Rubber barely budged with Wire Brushes used By hand (no room to get at them with any Power Tools with a Wire Wheel).

With the Crank Pulley I started the Engine and held my coarsest Wire Brush up against it and that got about 80 percent of the Rubber off.
No way to do that to the Power Steering Pulley.

I decided there was enough room to remove the Power Steering Pulley and barrowed the Tool for that from Autozone.

Once off I applied the Pulley to a Wire Wheel turned by 1/2 HP Motor. That barely did anything (see 2nd Pic); somewhat like if you took a Wire Wheel to a Tire; tough stuff.

What worked is that I took the Pulley and a Propane Torch outside and I burned the Rubber on the Pulley. Once burned most of it came off with the Hand Brush. However, you had to start brushing right after you stopped heating. That made progress slow.
After that I finished up on the Motor driven Wire Wheel.

I found that it would not be easy to remove the Crank Pulley so I settled for burning the rubber off with it on the Engine and using the Hand Wire Brushes. Extremely tedious job but it worked.

In case this ever happens again does anyone out there know some chemical that could be applied to rubber to eat the Rubber off in a reasonable time.
I tried Goo Gone, Engine Degreaser and Brake Fluid and all had only a slight effect on it.
Attached Thumbnails
Burned Serpentine Belt Rubber fused to Pulleys; Removal-rubber-pulley-1.jpg   Burned Serpentine Belt Rubber fused to Pulleys; Removal-rubber-pulley-2.jpg   Burned Serpentine Belt Rubber fused to Pulleys; Removal-rubber-pulley-3.jpg  
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