Had a Monday where three cars came in with the exact same broken belt tensioner

Last week I had a day that was just unreal. First job of the morning, a 2012 Cruze with a squealing belt. Pulled it apart and the tensioner pulley was seized solid. No big deal. Then right at noon a guy rolls in with a 2014 Sonic, same noise, same problem. Then at 4pm another Cruze, this one a 2015. All three had the same tensioner part number fail. I've never seen three of the same part go in one day. Has anyone else ever run into a weird batch failure like this where it felt like a parts recall nobody told you about?

2 comments

2 Comments

stella_lee8d ago

Parts are built different these days, huh? (Not in a good way.)

beth_hunt8d ago

My 2012 Honda has 180k miles on it and the only thing I've replaced is the alternator. That's just one example though. I think a lot of it depends on what brand you're buying and how well you take care of things. My neighbor just had a 2020 Ford that needed a new transmission at 60k miles, so yeah some stuff really is junk now. But I see plenty of older cars still running fine with basic maintenance. Maybe we just remember the bad parts more than the good ones.