Drive belt damaged from off-roading? Check those belts

[Land_Shark]

For reference, I purchased mine in June 2014 and it now has about 23k on it. I've done plenty of trips off pavement to national forests, my property, etc plus about 4 days of dedicated off roading at designated parks.

The other day I was looking through the engine bay, checking on things, and notice my serpentine belt was damaged. Part of the belt was fine, and about 1/3 to 1/2 of it had about a 1/4 in missing. (tough to explain).

All the pulleys seemed to be operating smoothly and balanced and I didn't notice any issues, so - safe to drive temporarily.

I took it into the dealer and played dumb. They said yeah, it's under warranty, several HOURS later, they replaced the belt but said it should NOT have been under warranty and they'll get flack from Toyota for doing it. The service representative, who was clueless, said this (here's my translation), "looks like this happened from off roading, your skid plate screen broke and debris damaged the belt."

He's probably correct - the small screen on my skid plate is bashed in and I've been through deeper mud recently than I wanted to be in, so it's very likely that's what caused the damage - but it's the first time I've seen anything like this. Head's up to all of you getting in the rough stuff.

I could only snap a couple of quick pics at the dealer b/c they needed the part to send to Toyota.

 

[gm350reratliff]

Strange. Were you in tall brush or mud? Almost looks as if a pulley is out of alignment.

 

[philsey]

Strange. Were you in tall brush or mud? Almost looks as if a pulley is out of alignment.

I think the entire length of the belt would be damaged if that were so.

 

[Land_Shark]

Strange. Were you in tall brush or mud? Almost looks as if a pulley is out of alignment.

I was in both - unfortunately, I can't pinpoint when this occurred, but a portion of the belt is perfectly intact and all pulleys are running true and smooth. It's as if a stick was lodged in there for a second before getting spit out.

In the end it's fixed and I hope it was just a freak accident. Figured I'd post as I haven't seen anything like it before

 

[e60ral]

Is there anyone that has an intact screen that has been on anything rougher than a gravel road? That thing is pretty flimsy

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[Antman]

Is there anyone that has an intact screen that has been on anything rougher than a gravel road? That thing is pretty flimsy

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Mine has been bashed in twice- still hanging in there though, lol.

 

[mbumpus11]

Good to know this might can happen. I've been in plenty of tall brush and mud on the ranch. Looks like I need to invest in a skid plate!

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Why is there a screen in the skid plate??

 

[e60ral]

I assume for airflow or something, but its super weak chicken wire and mine blew out in the bottom the first time i hit any mud.

 

[Engineer]

Haven't done it yet in the 4runner but this is why any time I change belts I toss the old one in the back for a emergency spare. They are fairly well protected but as you point out its not impossible and would be a crappy reason to get stranded somewhere.