Since I have bought my FC n/a, about 8 weeks ago now, It has costed me 4 alternatorbelts.

I noticed a slipping sound starting @ 3600rpm. But not always, just from time to time.

I tried tightening the belt by adjusting the alternatorposition, but seemed ineffective.

I took the alternator off, because I thought the bearings were shriggydiggy, but when tested on a rollerbench (or something like that, don't know hows it's called in english) everything was fine.

When looking at the alternator, black dust has gathered around it, so it defenitly is the alternator where the belt is slipping..

Does anyone know why and what to do about it?
A year has 52 weeks, and I don't want to buy a bulkload of 26 belts a year!

 

Is the pulley warped?
How tight are you making it?
Overtightening or too loose can cause your problems.


-Ted

 

Is it an S4? They have a spacer on the main bolt. the spacer must be in the correct position, or else thealt is misaligned from the other pulleys.

I dont know which is the right position, as I have an S5. But this has been covered many times, so just do a search.
-a

 

please explain warped...
I've tightend it regular, so it can move for about 1cm (0,4"?)

 

First: Do you still have your air pump? If not, the alt. belt is the only one driving the water pump, which leads to:

If the slipping starts at ~4k RPM, you might want to check your clutch fan. If it's locked up and not slipping at higher RPMs, the drag of that huge fan at high RPMs will be more than a single belt can take easily.

Also, how are you tightening the alternator? I've been using a big wrench to pry up under it, and I can get it significantly tighter than just tightening it by hand.

-=Russ=-

 

It's proberly missing a spacer, so it's not aligned and eating the belts

 

I think Sunshine is right in thinking it's the spacer (which goes in the back).

 

Without the belt, spin the pulley by hand.
You should be able to see any "wobble" with your eyes.

As for deflection, it should be about 1/4" at it's widest span as a rule of thumb.


-Ted

 

I was going thru 1 belt every month , when i switched from s/4 to an s/5 alternator, pulley looked fine no wobble but for some reason i was eatin up belts at high rpm too, went thru 7 before i decided to buy a new pulley, got the RB dual alt pulley and now every thing is fine, even at high rpms.

 

I am haiving a similar problem. Out of the blue my alternator belt burned up one night. I replaced both belts, alternator and air pump and the car ran OK for a while. I take the car off of the road in the winter. I do start it once a month during the off season. This spring, the car made an awful squeeling noise when I started it. I noticed the black soot around the alternator and that the alternator bearing was very hot, so I disconnected the alternator belt and the noise went away. I foolishly replaced the alternator and installed a new alternator belt. During my next test drive one evening (lights on) I once again heard the sqeeling sound and smelled the alternator belt burning. I stopped for a few minutes and when I strated again everything was OK.
I drove the car for a few days, all was well. Then one evening after driving about 30 miles. I turned the head lights on and immediatly smelled the belt buring. I shut the lights off and drove about 3 miles to my house. When I arrived the belt had burned off and in the process knocked off the air pump belt. Needless to say the car got quite hot, fortunatly, nothing bad happened.
Does anybody have any suggestions?

 

Check your alternator spacer position. The belt should be in a straight line, not coming at an angle from the water pump up.

-=Russ=-