Hi guys, I think I've found the reason my alternator belt is creating belt dust. I looked at the belt when the car was running and it seems that the alternator is misaligned a little. The air pump and power steering belts do not wobble so I am guessing that the alternator is misaligned. Has anyone had a similar problem? And how did you fix the misaligned pulley?

 

take a pic but the only thing I can think of is that you have the spacer on the wrong side of the alternator.

 

The spacer is on correctly otherwise I wouldn't be able to tension the belt at all. The misalignment isn't too bad about 1 mm maybe? It's creating belt dust and I am guessing creating problems with charging.

 

One mm isn't very much. Over tension can create dust also.

 

I adjusted the tension multiple times I am pretty sure it's not the tension. When the belt is running it is wobbling side to side with a max deviation of maybe 1 mm?

 

Unfortunately we have one of the shitiest alt alignment/tensioning systems ever devised for a vehicle. When it happened to me it was the result of over tightening.

Unfortunately even after loosening the tension the problem didn't go away, the pulley had actually become warped and eventually came apart completely.

The only advice I can give is to clean up the belt dust, double check the tension and keep checking for belt dust to see if it gets better/worse.

 

Good luck to you on that, every V-belt RX-7 I've ever come across goes through alternator belts like condoms.

 

it's common to have belt dust? i've retensioned the alternator a few times so.

also, the car seems to charge better when it is cold than when it is warm, any reasoning as to why this could be? i get around 14 volts with no load when cold but only around 13.7 no load when the car is already warm. when there is load it gets worse, cold-13.7-8 volts and warm-13.3-4 volts. sometimes when i don't step on the gas pedal the dash lights dim and the voltage drops to 12.5 ish

 

Ha I'm having the same problem! gotta upgrade to the taurus alt and get the band type belts so you can avoid any of this. thats what im going to be doing anyways. I say screw the stock electric anything on the fc haha especially when theyve been hacked hardcore by previous owners who dont know jack. I am gonna be trying a few things on my car for a temporary fix until i can get the taurus alt setup and ill let you know if i find anything out. had to ride to work in my girlfriends daewoo today cuz battery was dead. girly stickers on the bumper and it didnt have the manly exhaust scent to it like the good ol 7. pretty lame.

 

maybe a bad bearing is causing your wobbling? something to look at. I for one have a new alternator and new battery and new terminals. doesnt wobble like yours though. could it be that your entire engine is shaking or wobbling? maybe has a knock? or bad engine mounts? somethings to take into consideration. at the worst it could be those others. but sounds like something simple.

 

go drop the money on a gilmer!

 

yeah i second the gilmer its a decent price for the set up too. like 150