[Vwdiesel] A-2 Alternator Belt Loosening

[Nate Wall]

Last night after rounding a corner, my trusty Jetta TD exhibited a horendous grating/grinding noise, from what I thought was the
transaxle. I figured something let loose in the differiential. Depressing the clutch made it stop, reving the engine made it worse.
I pulled into a parking space and let it idle a couple minutes and reved it again, same grating horrendous rasping sound. No guage
LEDs illuminated. I turned the motor off and popped the hood. I smelled a little burning rubber. I was ready for the worst. To my
relief, the alternator belt had completely loosened somehow, and was grossly slipping. I could just spin the alt pulley around
effortlessly. The two adjustment bolts were tight, though. I retensioned the belt, which was still in good shape. (I always carry
the tool box). End of problem. I'm confused, because about a week ago I tensioned the belt properly. Also, about every 2 - 3 weeks
I have to tighten it, because it keeps getting loose. What causes this? The car has done this from day one, even after a new
tensioner pulley. It takes the real short belt (960 MM?) (A/C, no P/S) and it appears to begin riding lower in the pulleys, each
time it gets adjusted, hense the loosening. It appears I get only 10 - 20,000 miles out of alt. belts (Continental) too. Any way
around this? Its a pain in the butt, and w/ the new motor, I no longer open the hood every couple of days to add oil (and check the
belt tightness).

--Nate