alternator belt?

c5tto · Post by **c5tto** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 5:05 pm

got my car going yesterday and lternator belt has now snapped, how hard are they to fit?

Stu160 · Post by **Stu160** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 5:58 pm

Quite easy,jack up the car ,remove wheel and arch liner,slacken off the alternator.15mm socket,and they are quite tight,and hard to get a good leverage on,then slacken the adjuster bolt,8mm socket or spanner.
remove old belt,and check the alternator has not seized.Dont know why the belt snapped??

Fit new belt and tension with 8mm bolt,quite tight,so you can move the belt only about 10mm up and down.Tighten bolts back up,and refit liner and wheel ,job done.Takes me about 10 mins to do that ,but believe me I am am alternator expert

Stu

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:45 am

Stu - do you not also slacken the 13mm bolt down by the crankshaft and both bolts at the alternator (top and bottom bolt)? I though that as the alternator moved up and down the arm, the angles would change and so the arm needs to be able to pivot around the bottom bolt.

BTW, do you know for sure the original belt snapped as opposed to just fell off? A common fault is for the bolt at the crank end of the alternator arm to break and then the belt falls off. A not-so-common but still happens fault is for the pulley to be loose on the crank (you'll notice this one fitting the new belt

).

Cheers,
Robin

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:10 pm

The arm does move a bit, but not much. We spent ages trying to move the alt before finding the little adjuster screw

Stu160 · Post by **Stu160** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:48 pm

Oh yes,forgot about that one.My car broke that one a while ago

Stu

robin · Post by **robin** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:36 am

It's happened to me twice (on different cars). The second one was right before we were due to go on some trip - cannot remember which one now - but I do remember Lawrence using his full arsenal of skills and tools and finally removing it - thanks Lawrence!

Cheers
Robin

c5tto · Post by **c5tto** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:02 pm

it definitely snapped, i started it and alternator bearing was seized, hasnt been started in months but it freed off then belt snapped, my own fault i should have freed it off when i heard it, phoned mmc today and ordered a belt should be here friday.