Alternator belts getting eaten fast! - -> Range Rover Classic

On or around Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:53:23 -0800, "Wayne Lambright" enlightened us thusly:

check the belt tension is in fact right. If it's one of those with a very short belt going from another pulley to the alternator, it's easy to have it slack without it being obvious.

It ought really to be a 13mm or 1/2" belt, not a skinny one, if you have the right pulleys.

make sure the belt alignment is OK.

first thing is to check alternator to see if its shaft still spins freely , you may find its gone tight and thats why belt has gone , requiring a new alternator possibly ..

check the metal fan at rear of pulley to make sure it isnt touching something and making it rub , although youll probably hear this if it is .

also check that the aluminium casting in the lower mounting bolt area is not cracked .

check battery has not lost its acid and youre trying to charge a dried out battery .

in this weather its best to charge battery up with a charger every so often and leave it on charge for a day .

belts dont like rusty pulleys, so check pulley and buff up with wire wheel if needed .

hope this helps

Hello Austin.

Oh.. I think you found it, my belt is 9mm wide " a skinny one"

the pully spin's freely also, and the alignment is ok.

I'll get a 13MM belt from the dealer and let you know how it goes.

thanks for your help.

wayne

On or around Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:11:37 -0800, "Wayne Lambright" enlightened us thusly:

note that it has to have wide enough pulleys. some of the 13mm pulleys have a deep V and will take either kind of belt. some have less V and if you put a thin belt on 'em, they wear out before long:

pulleys belts \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \__/ \_/ \ / \_/ \/

the pulley on the left will run OK with a thin belt (right) lower down the pulley. The pulley on right will work fine for a very short time but then the narrow belt will bottom out and it'll slip.

70A or more alternators rather punish a thin belt anyway, even with the right pulleys. sometimes they run with 2 thin belts.

Austin, thanks for your help.

the 13MM wide belt did the job.

It was your suggestion that solved my problem.

Thanks for your help.

Wayne

a photo of my rover.

'ere some one's nicked yer steerin' wheel!

On or around Sat, 31 Dec 2005 08:14:34 -0800, "Wayne Lambright" enlightened us thusly:

well, that's a nice start to the new year. Hmmm. must order an exhaust for the TDi.