Mine is more like the ones your BL cars would have had (12x710mm).
Went to the garage and tried to order one this afternoon. They initially had trouble finding the appropriate one, but had it sorted out in no time. Unfortunately, they had none in stock (which I quite expected 'cos they're not exactly a service parts as such) and thus ordered one in for me, so I?ll collect it tomorrow. It turned out to be £4, but its hardly going to break the bank.
I'm now quite interested to see what state the old one is in. I'll report back once I?ve changed it. Keep your ideas coming.
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My BL TR7 belt is still going strong at 66,000 and 25yrs old. It gets an occasional squirt of belt dressing to keep it supple.
If it works, don't mend it!
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UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE......
Finally got round to changing this today. What a faf! Due to the upheaval caused by our garage extension, I had to change the belt in my Grandmas garage (not only that but the tools were supposed to be there too). Managed to save a lot of time by not having to jack the car up, as I could crawl as far as I needed with the car as normal.
Well, it turned out the tools I wanted were still at home, so I made do with the imperial/metric mix that was there.
Removed the old belt, and I think I?ve been driving on borrowed time for quite a while. The belt was in far worse condition than the usual check would have you believe. All the rubber was heavily polished/glazed, with every tooth having deep cracks before and after it, with the webbing starting to fail and some missing rubber (which mush have come away from the internal webbing)
Installed the new one as per instruction in the Haynes and VAG workshop manual, which involves running it for a small time. Everything OK. After running, you have to re-tension it, so I did. By now, it?s quite late and it?s getting dark, so I finish up and remove car from garage.
Upon driving home, it sounded different. I think I may have over tightened it, as all the way home, the car sounded like a steam kettle whistle/ washing machine on a spin cycle! The manuals ask you to tighten to torqueses which were too low to be measured on the wrench I had, so I had to guess, which I appear to have done wrongly.
So, first things first. Tomorrow, I?ll slacken it, but the current tension (measured by pressing along the longest length) is already up to the maximum deflection.
Any thoughts
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Don't bother with what the books say, just tighten it enough so that you can turn the alternator by hand. Better that it's a bit loose rather than over tight. You can always adjust it again if it starts squeeling too much. You'll wreck the bearings if it's too tight.
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I wouldn't have continued driving it, but I really had no option. I kept engine speeds as low as I could, but had to venture on to a dual carriage way eventually.
I hope it hasn't done too much harm.
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It will be ok but slacken it as soon as you can.
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Cheers Xileno, been a great help (thanks to all of the above too)
I think it serves as a warning that these items should be checked more carefully/regularly.
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to get it rite without fancy tools ect, the tension should be that so when u hold with ur hand, you can turn it about 90 degrees with 2 much effort, then it stops and resists the twist.
if you cant reach about 90degree twist its too tight, if it goes past 90degrees and starts twisting round the opposite way to that which the belt is facing on the pulleys... then its too lose. im not familiar with your engine set up. but its usally either a sliding alternator bracket, or a belt tensioner positioned between the pulleys.
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I think I finally have it right!
Slackened it off again this morning, and ran it for a time, to which everything seemed ok.
Decided that I?d give it a run, getting the belt settled and burning off any excess deposits from the oil etc after all the stop/starts and brief runs while testing the belt. Got half way out the estate when it was at it again. Arrrrggghhhh
Came home, and slackened it off further, to the point where I would have thought the belt was so slack, it would begin to slip (over 10mm deflection). Anyways, started it up again.....no whistle, hurray!
I was going to take some photos while out on my drive, but by the time I got to where I wanted to be, it was too dark. Typical. Well, it least me and the car had a good run into the country if nothing else.
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>>it would begin to slip (over 10mm deflection).
free play at longest point should be approx 1/2 inch,too tight you will get alternator bearing whine
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Steve
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Modern multi-ribs seem to last much longer than the old V belts.
I recently found that oil contamination ruins them very quickly.
I had to remove a belt tensioner bell crank, it was stuck, and I used loads of spray-oil etc... this got onto the belt which was only a week old (to try and cure a noise which ended up being this bell crank) anyway, I cleaned the oil off the belt so I thought, but a month later the belt exploded while driving along and I had to call the AA. It was a proper Contitech belt which replaced 5 year old Contitechs. So I assume it was the oil ruined the rubber.
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It used to be easier in the old days. I can remember leather / fabric fan belts that were adjusted by removing part of the belt. They were made of hundreds of individual links like a chain is. If the belt was a bit loose, you just removed a link. If it was a bit tight, it wouldn't fit. Spot on every time !
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An even worse scenario which I experienced , was the V in a pulley actually wearing. The noise might be caused by the belt bottoming out - even the new one.
A common bodge in my younger days ,when all else failed, was to use a squirt of WD40 to silence things temporarily.
Mind you I may be thinking of a dynamo set-up where the belt did not have to transmit much torque.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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WHINE! Had the thing squealing like a scalded child the first time. Surprised the bearings didn't pop out in protest.
I really can't complain at the life of the old Continental belt (the name you can just make out) having 12 years use and several doses of WD40 to stop it squeaking.
The new belt is a Bosch, which I?m sure will serve its purpose just as well. Only I could turn such a simple affair into such a saga.
I was beginning to think it wasn't worth worrying about the belt, as the lady at the garage had to order a one in ?'cos we don?t do many of those you see?. But now I?m quite glad, seeing how ropey the old one was.
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The belts from Halfords are good quality, I've used them on VW's.
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