for the last 3 years now my baby keeps breaking altenator belts. what causes this and how can I get her to keep one on for a while. It's getting to the point where whenever I go get another belt I get 2 of em so I have a backup. HELP!

 

Either the belt is too tight, or the alt is not mounted straight

 

Does your Alternator Pulley have any form of rust In the slots? Just a little, compounded with the heat that arises when the Alternator gets going will start spitting out shavings of the belt - becoming worse over time.

 

Has the alternator ever been removed? Make sure that the metal washer is in the correct position on the lower mouting ear. It should be between the alt mount and the mount on the engine. Ive seen some people put it in front of the alt, making it sit too far forward and thus the belt being at an angle..

 

Thats a good point...however, he has a s5, which do not have these silly spacers.

 

the only thing I see around it is the rubber powder from the belt on the altenator. the last belt it broke last night had no signs of cracking or rubbing. it just broke.

 

could the alternator be starting to lock up?

 

I don't think so. it still spins freely by hand. only thing I can figure is maybe I've put em on too tight. but I don't wanna put em on loose so they fly off all the time.

 

is the alt belt in the right groove on the main pulley?

 

is the alt belt in the right groove on the main pulley?

 

How much play do you leave on the belt?

 

Is there a possability that the water pump housing somehow warped in the area where the mounting for the alt happens and somehow twists the belt even though the alt is properly mounted on the housing but since the housing is the one that is off you don't notice it?

My vote goes for a new housing or a new alt/pully

 

This may not sound correct, but I experienced this same thing with my S4. When my belt first broke I just took for granted that the belt that broke was the correct width.

Lo and behold it was just a half size to narrow. Thus under high rpm it was digging in and eventually burning up the sides of the belt and then would snap. I finally realized this because mine kept snapping and I would check it for wear like evenyday. Eventually i noticed the belt start to sit further and further in to the pully.

I bought a belt a half size wider and it never snapped again.

hope this helps.

-jl

 

my alt. belt recently broke. This problem was more than likely a symptom of a bad water pump (could mean several things). I had my mechanic replace it and everything is all good now.

 

well at the begining of the year I noticed that the bracket that holds the air pump was cracked in half. I replaced the bracket and everything seemed to be nice. at leaast til now. the belts always fit snug and I keep the belt tight but with a lil play in it. and yes the belt is in the right grooves as there is only one groove for it to go on. its just a pain having to remove all the belts to put one belt on every 2 or 3 months.

 

try the duble belt pully and get two belts on there to share the tension.. this will help very much.. what are your coolant temps your seeing? could be sign of water pump pully f'en up..

 

my coolant temps are normal. coolant is still full. I've had it flushed a few months ago and it the radiator is full whenever I pop the thermostat. The engine has 151K miles on it and needs a major tune up. I've replaced spark plugs n wires on a yearly basis whether they need it or not, I try to keep my oil changed every 3000 miles or so and I just changed the tranny n diff fluids. I've never had any probs from her other than a weak tranny that needs to be replaced but while I still have most of my gears working it'll have to wait til I have money saved. about the only thing that I have to replace more than oil is the altenator belt. I can't run the dual pulley cause I don't have an extra slot for the 2nd belt. at least while I still have the air pump, p/s, n a/c. in the furture I plan to remove the p/s and a/c and get the FD altenator.
as it stand now, I got a gatorback belt for her which is a lil wider than the last belt so hopefully that'll be there for a while. I hope. Thanks all for your advice and help.

 

I think I have a similar issue only worse!
My 1990 Red Convertible was purchased in march 07 with 54,000 miles on it all original down to the airpump and air filter...as I went through my road worthy checklist the Alternator belt looked like it was the original belt or very old to say the least. I replaced it and thought nothing of it ...5 months later the alternator went south. I purchased a rebuilt one fron Advance Auto parts made by worldwide manufacturing. After I replaced it ..it got very hot in the five to ten minutes I ran the engine to test it. I did not know if this was normal. alignment is perfect pulley is new water pump turns freely

The Belt Broke off the car two weeks later and it was lost to the highway.
I replaced the belt again making sure the tension was within specs
The second belt lasted about 3 weeks and we were fortunate enough to see it laying on the engine. Seeing this belts condition was shocking. the Belt looked as if it was 6 or 7 years old it was dried out and cracking in several places besides the actual break. This is when I realized the alternator was burning the rubber right off the belt. I also saw the paint on the pulley actually start bubbling and cracking as well. I went back to Advance and they Swapped the Alternator and belt for no charge. this time I tested the Alternator temperature. 225 degrees was the temp of the case! that was saturday today tuesday ..my daughter called me from school ..the car will not start battery is dead ... My other 1990 rx7 has an alternator that only gets up to 180 degrees and seems to be doing better ..I replaced that belt two months ago as it seemed old as well. this seems to be a common problem of eating belts for some sevens .so I called Mazdatrix they have never seen this issue. I also have heard that the Turbo II alternator will fit and run cooler any one hear of this ???? Any ideas would be appreciated

 

Wait...why do we have 3 threads on the same topic on the first page of the 2nd Gen Technical Section?

 

LOL somebody searched and brought up year old posts.