I just purchased I just purchased the car, and on the way home I broke in alternator belt. Purchased one for the price of six 99, installed it to spec, now it's outside is looking chewed.

Any ideas? When the engine is running, the left side of the belt looks loose. not sure if I can tighten it anymore without being out of spec.

See picture and attached video link.


https://youtu.be/-ChpxeZdNyg

 

The only thing I can think of is the pulleys are slightly miss aligned or it's too tight.

Most people will tell you to run double belts. But these engines came from the factory with one and it should work, not sure why they don't.

 

Yes, if you’re confident that its tensioned properly, misalignment, damaged or bent pulley, or wrong size belt are the reasons that come to mind. I suppose it could be a bad/faulty belt but that’s really doubtful.

 

The pulleys don't look misaligned in the picture, so that's not the issue here. And honestly, a little bit of outer edge fraying on a cheap $6.99 belt wouldn't surprise me too much, especially if it was installed with too much or too little tension - which is what you should double check first. Might want to consider shopping around for a better quality belt - I've had pretty good luck with replacement belts made/branded by Gates, Goodyear or Dayco on my FC and other cars.

Lacking a belt tension gauge, you can still check for proper tension by belt deflection. On the longest belt span between pulleys, stick your thumb in the middle of the span on the outer edge of the belt, and press inwards and take note of how much distance the belt deflects inwards under the force of your thumb. And BTW, you don't need to apply a herculean amount of force here - just enough to move the belt; if it feels like you're straining to get it to budge, you're pressing too hard. Ballpark figure for a good installation is about 1/4 inch deflection, but there is an exact spec for this called out in the FSM the other guys referenced

 

i've had belts look like that before and they have lasted for yrs. so no need to worry, that belt looks fine.