I doubt warranty would cover that. The basic warranty covers everything for three years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. You're well past that. Same with road-side assistance. That helps you out for things like flat tires or things that require a tow truck. Those both used to be one year or 12,000 miles.
The power train warranty, as I remember it, only covers internally-lubricated parts in the engine and transmission like the crankshaft and bearings, and clutch packs, solenoids, etc. in the transmission. Those don't really cause much trouble. The belt tensioner, while not common, is somewhat of a typical mechanical breakdown that could happen to any car, and there's no reason to expect it to be covered under a longer warranty. The exception would be if the manufacturer had received a batch of defective ones from their supplier and they announced a "good will" extended warranty, but they would not be required to do that.
Even if you had purchased some type of additional extended warranty, (which usually isn't a good deal), there would typically be a $100.00 deductible that you would have to pay. The tensioner and the labor to replace it might not be that much.
Check on rockauto.com for a new tensioner. They seem to have about everything and their prices are very reasonable.
Jul 9, 2011 at 2:00 AM
