# Strange black stuff coming from belt area



## MeJustmyself (Dec 24, 2016)

Sorry I am an extreme novice when it comes to small engines, or engines in general so I may not know all the right terminology. 

I have a powersmart 22in snowblower that I had gotten last year. It worked great all 2 times I used it last year, and worked great the first time I used i this year. 

The second time however about 1/2 way through clearing the snow it started getting clogged almost instantly. The clog would clear, start to work again but if I moved too fast it would get clogged again. 

I checked and the augers were spinning a little slow and the impeller was barely moving at all. Next I took the cowling off to check the belts, they seemed fine not misaligned or frayed at all so put that back on and raised the tension on the auger cable a bit. This brought it back to life, worked better than ever but it was making a very loud noise. I fixed this by spraying it with WD-40 (the auger and impeller) which the manual suggested but I ignored anyway. 

Now my problem is along the cowling there is a strange black almost powder seeping out. Not much, but it is there. Inside the cowling itself it seems to be coated with it, I cannot remember if it was like that before or not. 

The belts themselves don't seem to be coated with it but the belt pin (if I am correct on what it is) seems to be slightly coated with it. I checked and the belt pin does have clearance with the belt both when it is engaged and when it is not. 

The substance itself is hard to explain. My fear was that it was burnt up rubber from the belts. It is not grease like in terms of lubrication but at the same time very hard to get off your hands not unlike graphite (but not graphite I know what that is).


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

welcome to the forum ME ! sounds like you have belt slippage.......get new ope belts, tension them to specs, and you should be good to go.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

:welcome: to SBF MeJustmyself


Really need some photos so we can see the stuff.


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## e.fisher26 (Nov 6, 2016)

Black powder in belt area must be a wearing belt. Change it, should be good 


-efisher-


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

I agree that it's likely the belt(s) but before I spent $$ and time on replacing them I'd do some inspection and find out if it's just normal wear or if they are rubbing on something or a bearing on an idler or tensioner might be going out.


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## jtclays (Sep 24, 2010)

ALL snowblowers have some belt residue in the belt cover, especially new. Like K4frog suggested, take the auger engagement idler back away from the belt (engine off, don't let your friend try to start it while you're doing this, don't attempt on the edge of roof etc. etc.) and spin the idler pulley. It should spin fairly easy with finger pressure. The manual says the belt keeper should be 3/16-3/8" from the belt. Because of the way the keeper is mounted and you have to "righty tighty" it they always seem to want to walk closer to the belt, especially doing it alone. I usually just stick an open end wrench in between the belt and keeper (you know, like side ways, the thickness of the wrench, at least my Craftsman open ends) and tighten the keeper to the sump cover and let it snug. Pull the wrench and you've got your gap. Problem may be you had a bunch of slack originally and the belt was allowed to slip and run for some time. That can glaze them and require you to keep tightening them until they ultimately need replacement. I'd guess you needed some run in and the belts needed the tension adjustment you did and you're now fine. The noise you mention is what would bother me. Especially if spraying lube on the impeller and augers made it go away:icon_scratch:


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## MeJustmyself (Dec 24, 2016)

Sorry for the lack of pictures, hard to get a good one with the crappy lighting I have (and not much better phone). Plus apparently I cannot post pictures yet. I asked a neighbor about it he said he couldn't be sure but sounded like normal belt residue.


As to the sound, it came back while I was clearning snow tonight, for a little while anyway then went away right about the time I tossed a chunk of ice... I am thinking that the sound didn't go away because I sprayed the impeller/chute with WD40 I am thinking it went away because today unlike the other day it was fairly warm out so it melted any ice that got past my cleanup last time when it was below 0.


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## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

There will be some degree of belt dust and light debris from the break in, especially when you work it with wet heavy snow. As long as it is not smoking and squealing, I'd probably just leave it alone.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Is it possible that some snow was left at the impeller area and it froze, then the noise was either the impeller hitting those ice spots or the belt slipping due to frozen impeller to housing? (I had the second scenario happening on a Cub Cadete blower and it sure produced a lot of belt dusting and smell like clutch or brakes "burning up"). 
Just a thought.


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## Newt (Dec 27, 2016)

It should be normal belt wear.


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