Second time it's done it now, brand new belts each time. It's been squealin, so I've seen it comin. I've prepped the belts with belt dressing (I think that's what it's called) but that didn't seem to help. I think either the alternator bearing or the idler pulley bearing may be sticking. Is there anyway to lube up the pulleys again, or do I have to replace the entire component that's not working?

 

It's probably a pulley that is not quite lined up with the other ones, this is usually the culprit when belts keep breaking. Check to make sure that all of your pulleys are in line with eachother. If you still have A/C and Power steering on there make sure they are lined up, if it is indeed one of those two components, then now you have a good excuse to remove the rats nest! If it is the water pump, or alternator pulley, which it must be in retrospect cuz you identified the alt. belt as the one snapping then I would think that one of those two pulleys is out of whack. Hopefully something just isn't screwed on right.

 

usually squealing means its not being tensioned right... at first removed all the dressing and keep everything clean and dry and make the belt tight. belts are made to stretch... it sounds wierd but after you run it check the tension again it will loosen up... but do check the alignment of everything

 

ive been dealing with a 91, that does the same thing, one of the pullies must have a burr or be too rusty or something. its not the tension of the belt, as that is correct, and tightening or loosening it, just makes things worse.

good luck, its probably not something thats going to obviously catch your eye

 

You are not going to believe me - and you are going to argue that you bought a good one but...

Quit buying Autozone and other cheap belts.

Get a Dayco or a premium belt.

 

I'm sure the premium belts are better but I doubt the cheap ones would snap as fast as this guy's or we'd be hearing a million complaints.

 

Something wrong with the pulleys.

 

I'm confused, you say your alternator belt is the one that breaks? But you are asking if maybe it is the idler pulley? The alternator belt only goes from the main engine pulley to the alternator. No idler pully involved.

I used to have this happen all the time before I started running a dual pulley. If you dont retighten it after it warms up all the way, then it will break.

 

Yah, it may be somethin to do with cheap belts, but like someone mentioned they still wouldn't have snapped that fast.

As for the idler pulley, I may be mistaken in the name. But the alternator belt goes from the alternator to the fan to another pulley, which I assume is the one that powers the entire belt system. Doesn't this one particular pulley have a bearing that could possibly be causing the problem?

 

Where would you buy some of the "premium" belts, cause i just have the autozone specials on mine right now too, and not only are they a little bit too narrow for the pulleys, but they squeal a lot over about 3500 rpm.

 

Go get your alternator tested, my money would be on a bad alternator bearing, not a belt or pulley issue.

 

When you put your alternator on,did you put the spacer at the back part of the top alternator Mount???..if you put it in the front then That could be your problem Right there..you should Have it like Alternator/Mount/spacer/mount,and then the Nut...any other way the alternator will be out of line with the Other pulleys that the belt has to go around.

 

My belt kept breaking to. Turns out that I needed to have my alt rebuilt. The hole thing was bad. The rugulater went in it.

 

Advance Auto Part belts for me. My belt squeels sometimes on start ups but my front alt bearing is toast and has been for a little over a year now. I have 2 belts on my alt too.