I had a 15% pulley installed a couple years ago at AMVIV and as part of the install, a tensioner stop cable was installed as well. See below:



When I had the belt replaced last year, the mechanic noticed that the cable had snapped at the grommet end. I ordered another and had it replaced.

I was checking out some things under the hood yesterday, and I noticed that the new cable has also snapped at the same location; the belt seems fine. Other than the possibilty that I got a bad cable (twice), what could account for this? I tracked the car four times last season, and plan to do at least that much again this season.

 

Mine snapped also, so you are not alone. Same place, right where it ends. I am thinking there is a lot of micro flex going on at that one place rather than along the entire length as the designers imagined. On a side note, even though the tensioner had snapped and the spring keeper had snapped too (the thing you put a wire in to hold the tensioner off the belt) No catastophic failure was experienced. In other words, the tensioner failing doesn't always make for a damaging situation. My old one came out in pieces and I was just replacing it because of the mileage, I didn't know it was bad.

 

This is the problem with that particular design. The grommets cause a wear point on the wire. The Alta type works much better, but it is a bit noisier.