What could cause my 97 ford contour to keep throwing the belt?

Asked by ktriplett20 Jul 15, 2014 at 07:53 PM about the 1997 Ford Contour 4 Dr GL Sedan

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I was driving down the highway one day when I noticed my battery light came on and I
lost all power steering. I went to my boyfriend's house and popped the hood and
noticed my belt had come off. After getting it back on we noticed the harmonic
balancer was extremely loose and parts of it were chipped off. So I assumed that was
the problem and bought a new one and put it on. It drove fine for 2 or 3 days and then
as I was pulling into the driveway it popped off again. We took the tire off and then
removed the pulley again and noticed the gear behind it was missing a chunk. I
included a picture of the gear. I'm not sure if this is what's causing it to keep popping
off, but if so, does anybody know what that gear is called? I can't find it ANYWHERE.
Thanks in advance!

46,395

Michael answered 10 years ago

Its hard to tell but maybe the key / keyway on the end of the crank is damaged or crank itself.

Mark helpful