Has anyone seen this before?

[Yeochief]

The drive belt on my 2009 GS SE5 is showing something strange.

As I was getting ready to head home, I happened to look at the rear sprocket and saw what looked like black feathers trapped between the belt and the sprocket. The belt did not seem to be damaged and was in the proper position on the sprocket. The rear tire was recently replaced and the whole setup was supposed to be like new. After I got home, I took a closer look and removed this from the sprocket. from rear sprocket 2.jpgfrom rear sprocket 1.jpg

This appears to be plastic with fibers throughout. The picture on the left shows how the material was formed in the sprocket. The right picture shows the side that was touching the belt.

I just looked at the belt closer, and the teeth appear dull, I never looked real close at the belt before, Whatever it is, it appears to be distributed evenly I cannot see any damaged teeth. The belt is OEM, but less than 9K miles.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Have you checked the entire belt ????? ..... Have you ever checked how much tension is on the belt ??? .... I would also have concerns about the engine Sprocket ...BEARINGS ...... Mike

[Aracknoid]

Agree with BlueKnight911, check eerything. Who changed the belt and howmany miles are on the machine? If the belt is too slack it will climb over the spocket teeth under acceleration. Misalgnment of the spocket to the beltdirection albeit due to bad bearings and or failure to aline will cost you a new belt$$$$.

My wife's GS SE5 has more than 25,000 miles, one belt broken due to a pebble, spockets look good tension has been checked using the Krikit(sp) @ 200 lbs on the ground with luggage.

Good luck with yours, hope you find the problem.

[Chupaca]

If you checked the whole length of the belt and have no damaged more than likely you picked up something that has been molded and mashed in the sprocket. It will tend to spread it out along the belt much like a pea size grease dab will spread across the whole drive system. I would clean up the sprockets and belt and ryde some to see if you produce this stuff or it just got trapped there...If adjusted correctly your mileage is not such as to have any problems with the belt....

[Peter Aawen]

Wot they ^^ says!!

But I'd also check the belt guards very carefully, especially if you've got one (or used to have one) of the A/mkt 'missing belt guards' - if the belt has been rubbing on of the black placcy bits on the swing arm or under the Spyder, what you see could be the result..... at least until it grabs even more of it &/or rips other stuff off as it spins past?!

Hope it's nothing drastic, please keep us informed.