Snapping Alternator Belts

[grinder]

A friend of a friend of a friend ( you get the idea )

keeps snapping alternator belts

they last about 4 miles tops

is there anything obvious to check for

thanks chaps

Stu

[kev-yorks]

Sounds like you\'ve got a seized pulley on it someware Stu.
Kevin

[Brett]

You\'re \'friend\' needs to check that

a) He/she is fitting the correct belts - OEM belts are usually far superior to pattern ones.

b) That they are not over tightening them.

c) The pulleys are clean and free from corrosion.

d) Check the area around where the belt runs, if its covered with black residue then the belt is being worn quickly - indicating there is a very strong load on the alternator (or fan), so check that nothing is drawing too high a current etc.

 :wave

[grinder]

hummmm thats what i was thinking !

he said that its not overheating - so the water pump must be OK

the air pump is still on

he said that he gets 4 miles and it snaps - and its a clean break not shredded ??

it could be a sticky pully i suppose ??

i will see if i can get some more info from him

Cheers Kev

Stu

[grinder]

cheers brett

trust me - its not me - i have 2 cars that run

[Brett]

...and how many that dont?

[grinder]

well they all "run"

[MikeLMR]

I had to swap the main pulley on my rally car as it had become polished due to the belt slipping (lots of lights and high wattage bulbs = hard life for belts and alternator)  If it had been slipping for a while before they changed the belt that could well be the problem.

I went through about £120 worth of genuine belts in a few weeks (it spat ALL the belts off when one went and I only ever used to find the broken one!!)

[88GT-R]

Sounds to me that the spacer on the pump housing is on the wrong side(should be to the rear of the housing), or it is the wrong offset. Have experianced it before.

J

[Martiny]

Alernator bearings on their
 way out?

[grinder]

i think that the bearings have failed in the water pump - hence it snapping belts

he is trying to sort it today - so see what happens

[MikeLMR]

if the bearings have gone the water pump will more often than not leak as well ... usually just a check by spinning by hand and check for leaks is enough. It\'s a right pain to change the pumps on some modern cars as it\'s behind all the cam belt.

[grinder]

its not my car matey - so if it takes them hours and hours - im not bothered

i will update as i find out more

[Grizzly]

I had three diffrent problems that killed Belts on my T2.

1. I removed the air pump and did\'nt fit a twin Pulley (It slipped like mad on the crank pulley becouse it had that fan to turn and was\'nt getting good grip)

2. Spacer wrong on the Pump (as already sugested)

3. Wrong belt (I bought a belt that was the correct lenth but the V was the wrong size so it sat at the bottom of the Pulley and would\'nt tighten up properly)

I would sugest you get him to spin the Alt, Water Pump and Air pump to see if they are all free and spin smoothly.

[grinder]

they seem to think that the bearing are failing in the water pump - so a new one is on order

it still has the air pump on - that was one of the first questions