alternator belt failures

[Jim Green]

--- scott miller <macatawa at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Check pulley alignment, visually should be adequate.
>  The belt should feed 
> straight from pulley to pulley without bending
> sideways.
> 
> With the belt off, check the pulleys spin freely -
> no binding, dents, chips, 
> or out of round from overly enthusiastic prybar
> application.
> 
> Is anything dripping on the belt or pulley? 
> Hydraulic oil drips on mine a 
> bit.  Clean the oil up, sometimes dripping liquid
> soap on the wear surface 
> of the belt cleans it pretty well (and splatters all
> over).
> 
> Correct belt, tensioned properly.  “Toothed” V-belts
> seem to grip better and 
> dissipate heat better, wear slightly faster, make
> more noise.
> 
> Belt dressing helps keep the belt soft and grippy,
> available at hardware 
> stores.
> 
> I’m no expert, but used to change hundreds of belts
> in my summer job 
> maintaining HVAC in several factories.  Became a
> mech. Engineer and lost all 
> such common sense skills!  HTH
> 
> Scott Miller
> ’90 200tqw
> Holland, MI


I've also heard it's easy to put the pulley to the
alternator on backwards.  This causes the belts to run
out of alighnment.
Later,

=====
Jim Green
'89 90tq 
http://www.geocities.com/jeg1976/

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