Advice and next steps?

[fspGTD]

Sorry for the confusion, but yes I do mean the water pump pulleys.  From the picture it seems they are worn into non-conical shapes, IE: they are concave in profile, where you want them to be flat.  This is the picture I am talking about:
http://www.vocontrol.com/jetta/belts3.jpg

This is the same type of problem I have found on old sheetmetal alternator pulleys:

(pictured is a new pulley on left, and old "concave" worn on right)

It seems that the pulleys that are made from sheetmetal are prone to this wear pattern.  When they get like that it is bad news for belt life!  I hope this helps.

[jtanguay]

very interesting jake.  So I take it converting to the serpentine belt might be a good idea

[srivett]

RE:  Melted belts, I thought you had a picture of a belt that was covered in rubber blobs on the sides.  Maybe that is just my imagination.  

Just today my belt popped a chord out the side so I'm gonna have to pick up my last v-belt ever.  If it lasts I'll reconsider the previous comment.  If it doesn't last I think it would be cheaper to buy a whack of used serpentine parts than it would be to buy new v-belt parts.  I've actually got 3 used alternator pulleys here that look like they use U-belts instead of v-belts.   :x  

Steve

[rackley]

Lord knows with these dumb sheet metal pulleys running at $140+ discounted, $180+ retail dealership price EACH it would potentially be cheaper to convert to serpentine than troubleshoot or fix any major v-belt problem.

I took the car for a ride today, the belts are still flapping all over but they seem to be staying somewhat tighter than before...I made it about 5 miles, tightened the alt belt just a tad, then made it back home and it was still tight.  

Going to drive it into work tomorrow (~10mi each way).  Fingers are crossed and tools are in back seat :-)

[rackley]

Well I've put about 35-40 miles on the POS and only had to tighten the belts up once after about 10mi, but they seem to be pretty tight about 25mi later.  So my belt issue is definitely better if not resolved.  Probably a trip on the freeway and another 50-100 miles will tell for sure.

I do get some squealing, but I'm almost certain it's my power steering belt.  The pulleys are not shaped correctly and the PS belt rides very low in both the water pump and power steering pulleys.  I may try to find a set of junkyard pulleys in the future, but it's an "optional" belt so if it melts or blows off I'm not too worried about it :-)

Thanks for all the help and advice guys!  This belt problem had me really frustrated for a long time.  I felt like taking a baseball bat to the car on several occasions, and I'm a very level headed guy who is NOT prone to losing it!

And while you're reading :-) ...  My right blinker blinks REAL fast.  I noticed in the garage the other night that the front and rear blinkers blink out of phase with each other (i.e. front on, rear off, then front off, rear on, etc.)  Something about the electrical load difference makes it blink so fast that the bulb barely has time to illuminate.  Any wild guesses?  It sounds like someone wired something wrong or put in an incorrect relay?

Thanks,
Ray

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

Ray I'm pretty sure this is an earthing problem with one of the  lights. This effect is more usually seen with a total failureof an indicator bulb/ dirty contact  causing bulb t ostay off. In your case there must be a high resistance rather than o/c.  Does both front and back bulbs light equally? If one appears dimmer then it may be that one's socket corroded... I could be talkin' my usual 'ollucks though