First one seized completely. No idea what was wrong but it completely ruined the belt as expected.
Got a replacement from scrapyard. One month later it looks like the pulley has come out too far from the alternator body so its knackered.
Just wondered - could be unlucky that replacement was a dud but what can I check to ensure its not something else causing this problem (like the other pulleys maybe?)
Any ideas?
Why didn't you have yours serviced or exchanged - this is one item on a car which must be reliable.
Indeed. It was probably the bearings (knackered from having the belt too tight?) and these are usually not too difficult to replace. Get them from a bearing supplier or even eBay rather than a main dealer. When pressing or drifting them into place try not to put the load through the balls, i.e. push the inner race on to the shaft and the outer race into the housing.
I'd say many things are more important. When an alternator fails, you can usually finish your journey - it doesn't cause the car to stop dead.
it effectively does when it also runs the brake vacuum or it seizes and takes the belt, plus water pump and power steering (as it does on kia sedona). Most people cannot or will not drive with even the slightest fault they are aware of , simply becuase they have grown up with little need of the knowledge or experience of driving less reliable stuff.
Ah, the good old days when we learned our skills because Dad always needed to get out the toolkit at some point on the Sunday afternoon outing in the Ford Prefect....
And that was if you were lucky enough to have a car!
I'd say it extremely unusual for an alternator to fail mechanically so it throws the drive belt or whatever. An electrical failure far more likely. I've had plenty of those through the years.
Although this alternator had :-)
and I have seen several, although I agree it is not as common as electrical failure or noisy bearing (which does usually precede total failure by a long while) Still at least the gearbox or the water cooling had not failed (as on some of the latest VW alternators) or the one way pulley (latest Fords) or the extra shaft so the alternator is remote from the belt (ford and Volvo)
In message , Mrcheerful writes
Alternators were removed regularly and frequently from aircraft when I was in the RAF, and when we stripped the down, the bearings were included in the maintenance; removed, washed in a petrol bath and dried and re-oiled, apart from the electrical attention and testing. It's damned inconvenient when an aircraft stops dead in mid-air. ;-)
Cue for the old joke:
If another engine goes, we'll be up here all day...
Oh yes. No chance of driving a sedona with no power steering.
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