ettenw

A few days ago, during some fairly aggressive driving, my '05 Boxster steering got very stiff and the the battery/generator warning message came on. I pulled over when it was safe and the temperature was going up too. I figured the problem was a broken serpentine belt (drives power steering pump, alternator, and water pump), or maybe the belt just came off. It turned out that the tensioner pulley bolt had sheared off. The dealer replaced the pulley, the bolt, and the belt. My question is, has anyone else had this failure? The car has about 25k miles on it.

Macster

Did you manage to salvage old belt? If so, check its condition. If one edge of belt worn sharp then likely it has been rubbing on one or more pulleys and this arises from some bearing that allows an accessory drive pulley to slightly **** and thus its pulley is misaligned and the belt rubs where it shouldn't touch at all.

The presence of a sharp edge can be a sign the belt was not tracking properly and things finally got so bad it jumped off and took the tensioner roller bolt with it.

Sincerely,

Macster.

ettenw

I didn't see the replaced parts, so I don't know about the belt condition.

I also need to make a correction. The service manager told me it was the tensioner pulley bolt. However, a closer look at the repair invoice indicates it was the "deflection roller" (p/n P997-102-119-00) bolt (p/n P900-385-091-04) that broke.