I have had my vortech sc for 13 months and 20,000 miles. It's been problem free with the exception of the idler pulley bolt snapping within the first 3,000 miles I had the sc.

A few weeks ago I noticed a slight chirping noise off and on when idling though I could not hear it when I accelerated. Vortech asked me to take the car to one of their installers who did not find anything wrong. After a few days the noise went away but I noticed that my sc belt was working its' way off. I realigned and tightened the belt and the noise came back then went away and the belt again was working its' way off.

I took the sc off my car and noticed that the base of the tensioner pulley was creating a gouge in the sc mounting plate. I also noticed that the tensioner bearing wasn't as smooth rolling as the other pulleys. I am thinking that this was the culprit of the noise (rubbing against the mounting plate) as well the cause of the belt coming off track (the gouge is at an angle).

Has any other vortech owners experienced this?

Here is a picture of the gouge created by the base of the tensioner pulley.

 

It looks as though the bearing in that pulley is seizing up and is actually turning the holder/locating cylinder. Maybe too much tension?

 

I'd be willing to guess that the lock-nut on the tensioner wasn't tight "enough" and allowed the collar to spin on the mounting plate.
Anyone who has tried to tighten on knows how much of a flaming pain in the ass it is. If you car has an x-brace it's even more difficult.

The locknut is a all metal elastic-stop nut, that deforms to positively lock against the tensioner stud. This feature makes it difficult to turn, and can feel "tight" when it's not.

In my opinion, the tensioner location is the only engineering goof up of the Vortech SC.

 

I had the tensioner pulley bolt snap as well on my S. I discovered all the bolts were 8 hard except for that one. I replaced it with a hardened bolt. I saw no marks on my bracket like that. I agree I think your bearing seized and it spun it.

fltsfshr

 

I spoke with Vortech and they came to the same conclusion as Slows2k ... that the tensioner lock nut was not tight enough causing the collar to spin.

 

The culprit ended up being a stripped tensioner pulley bolt that prevented the jam nut from being tightened properly. I replaced the mounting plate, fixed the bolt and the sc has been running fine for the last two months.

 

Now that we have a F.I. forum, moving there now.