snapped 3 belts so far.

[onelowtalon]

about a 2 1/2 months ago i bought my 93. great car at the time. i took it to the dealership for a tune up , water pump, and timing belt change. great. since then i have snapped 3 alternator belts, they were all replaced for free because they were under warranty. ive been told by people that when the timing belt was done the motor wasnt secured straight or maybe the alternator was crooked. is there any validity to this??? i could just continue getting it repaired but the tows are getting expensive. what should i do??

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by onelowtalon
...
ive been told by people that when the timing belt was done the motor wasnt secured straight or maybe the alternator was crooked. is there any validity to this??? i could just continue getting it repaired but the tows are getting expensive. what should i do??

The engine not being straight is a stretch but they may have been thinking of something else and that's the way you understood it.

However, the Alt. belt could have a problem if the front or rear pivot bolt is missing. This will allow the Alt. to turn downward towards the crank pulley. Which reminds me that the crank pulley (harmonic balancer) could also be wearing which is a common problem and they will break. You should go in screaming about their sloppy work which could get you mugged because they have not fixed your car. This isn't rocket science and they should be able to find the problem.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[Sephroth57]

yeah id go in and ask to talk to the manager and just politely tell him how shitty of work theyre doing and how many times your belt broke meaning something else they put back together isnt right

 

[BUCK]

by onelowtalon what should i do??

Buy yourself some Car Ramps for Christmas & get your butt under there & fix it RIGHT!

 

[onelowtalon]

i spoke with the dealership and they said that the alternator could possibly be heating up and thats what is causing the belts to snap.
any ideas. they said something about having to repalce it with an aftermarket alterantor. WTF???

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by onelowtalon
i spoke with the dealership and they said that the alternator could possibly be heating up and thats what is causing the belts to snap.
any ideas. they said something about having to repalce it with an aftermarket alterantor.

I sure like to see that in writing. It may be time to contact the BAR, you can ask for an expedited processing or give you suggestions on how to procede.
............................

I see you are selling a 1600 (watt??) amp, in round numbers 160 amps and your Alt. can't keep up with that. You need to sort out your electrical system for the alt may be trying to keep up with that but the belt is getting trashed with the load.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[kpt4321]

Make sure the belt isn't touching a long bolt or anything, I've heard of that happening.

 

[jrivard00]

Originally posted by GTM
I sure like to see that in writing. It may be time to contact the BAR, you can ask for an expedited processing or give you suggestions on how to procede.
............................

I see you are selling a 1600 (watt??) amp, in round numbers 160 amps and your Alt. can't keep up with that. You need to sort out your electrical system for the alt may be trying to keep up with that but the belt is getting trashed with the load.

Cheers,
GTM

His amp won't affect the alt to the point where it would be breaking belts. If anything the alt would blow its regulator under the load. If the belts are breaking then either the alt isn't lining up right with the crank pulley or the alt has bad bearings. If he however did upgrade his alt for a high amp unit, the belt would experience a higher load on it due to the nature of those alternators being harder to turn.

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by jrivard00
His amp won't affect the alt to the point where it would be breaking belts. If anything the alt would blow its regulator under the load. If the belts are breaking then either the alt isn't lining up right with the crank pulley or the alt has bad bearings. If he however did upgrade his alt for a high amp unit, the belt would experience a higher load on it due to the nature of those alternators being harder to turn.

If his amp is pulling 1/4 of that 1600 watt amp it's 400 watts / again round numbers of 40 amps. If he turns the lighs on and the heater on low he's dealing in negative numbers. And the Alt is running max load CONTINUOUS without a cooling fan.

I wouldn't think the dealership would put on 3 belts in 3 months without inspecting the installation. No decent mechanic is going to keep having comebacks for he has to do the job for FREE if he screwed up. I've fired mechanics for sloppy work for they give the dealership a bad name, they invite law suits and the BAR who has the ability to review ALL of that mechanics work.

As you can see we are not being told everything surrounding this problem, the dealer has obviously seen the amplified radio install and has given him some advice which he's not followed. Belts break from being too tight as well as too loose, he's modified the electrical demand which in all probability didn't cause problems until the amplifier install.

Bad bearings can be heard, felt and seen on a scope as hash pattern in the sine wave. Belt alignment can be seen with the eye or a straight edge. And while I agree with you that under normal conditions the belt won't be stressed to the breaking point he's got a modified system which has doubeled or trippeled the continuous load and I've no reason to believe the "regulator" would be the weak link.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[jrivard00]

It has to be something with the pulleys or an aging alt that doesn't spin as freely as it use to. I myself run three amps in my car on the stock alternator (over 60k on it so far) running at a max of 1800 watts with out any caps or upgraded power wires underneath the hood.

On my previous car I did have a alt bite the dust but I never broke any belts because of a system.

 

[onelowtalon]

hey everybody. the amp that i am selling is out of the 98 and not the 93. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: .
its cool i got it repaired. they fixed it for free considering that it was something that they noticed the first time that it snapped. supposedly the alternator was getting too hot and it was causing the belt to weaken

 

[91awdtsiownsyou]

check to see if u have the bolt on the power steering pump bracket