ive replaced it the passed two sundays now. can anyione give me any hint on why my alternator belt keeps snapping, this is probably the 7th or 8th time its happened in a few months. any feedback really will help, thanks.

oh yeah and it squeels alot, normally when it snapps i can tell it will squeel really hard for like 10 minutes or so and then just snap. and it squeels alot off and on.

 

What's locking up? Alt? A/C? Idler?

 

i cut my ac belt so i could put another alternator belt on, nothings locking up, it just snaps, it squeels for a long time, then just breaks.

 

Sounds like a pulley is siezing.

 

why do you say that?

 

I agree, sounds like a pulley is seizing.

Since in order for a belt to snap, it must have a whole ish load of strain put on it... and the only 2 possibilities for that are hard acceleration, or deceleration of the pulley/belt components. And we can pretty much rule out acceleration of the components, since the components in question are all designed well within tolerance of what the engine can possibly accelerate at (it'd throw rods or bearings before a belt)... we'll assume: YOUR ALTERNATOR is probably locking up.

Tricky part is figuring out if the alt is locking up due to the belt/pulley being misaligned or worn out... or if the alternator is borderline trashed... and heat build up is causing it to seize temporarily. I guess it could also be that the belt is getting pinched into the crankshaft pulley... but i'd only call that realistic with crappy aftermarket crank pulleys.

I had this problem on a 91 vDub i had... alternator was dying slowly.

gl

 

so im probably better off ordering my swap tomarrow?

 

ummm, that's up to you.

i'd fix it... but that's just me. then i'd order the swap stuff.

-- could also just be cheap belts? -- using oem or autozone trash?

ooor, maybe you're just putting them on too tight?

 

ive litterly put like 9 on, ive changed the tightness losserness for the majority. no just i intend to do a swap anyways, and the belt keeps breaking and its getting annoying so now seems like the logical time to do it... i hope lol. yeah i am using belts from advanced auto, dont know where/how much the real ones are:\

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Import_Dumbass &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ive litterly put like 9 on, ive changed the tightness losserness for the majority. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Does the alt spin freely? Have you checked?

 

Definetly change out the alternator. Defienetly sounds like its on its way out, starts to get alot of resistance (squealing) then snaps due to pressure.