HELP!! Alternator belt and pulley probs
HELP!! Alternator belt and pulley probs
Author
Discussion

matt101

Original Poster:

299 posts

281 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
My car decided to eat its alternator belt on the way to VW last week so I took the trumpets off (4.5 cerb) last night and it appears that my problem is a little more serious

The reason the belt went in the first place is due to one of the tensioner bolts falling out causing the belt to slip, unfortunatley the bolt that came loose managed to find its way down to the bottom where it wedged itself between the engine and the pulley. needless to say, the bottom pulley wheel is now wrecked. New one on order

Thing is, how the hell do I get to this pulley. I see I need to take the alternator off but it looks like the fuel rail will need to be removed to do this. Is this easy to do or is there a better way??


any advice most welcome








colinc01

178 posts

268 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
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happened to me a few year back, unfortunatley fuel rail has to come off

matt101

Original Poster:

299 posts

281 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
Did you do the work yourself colin? Just wondering how easy this is to do and if I need to watch out for anything.

Jnr

483 posts

273 months

Friday 27th February 2004
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Hi Matt,

Sorry to hear its a little worse than originally thought, I take it you got home from VW ok???

Good to meet you and the others.....

Should meet up again soon!


John

matt101

Original Poster:

299 posts

281 months

Friday 27th February 2004
quotequote all
Hi Jon,

Im getting there now, took the trumpets, fuel rail and alternator off last night so now I can at least get to the pulley.....just need to figure out how it comes off now!.

Did you get any further with the exhaust? you know it needs sports pipes!

Good to meet you last weekend, hope my crazy mates havent left you too scarred Give us a shout when your next over here,

Matt.



colinc01

178 posts

268 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
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Matt I had a garage do the work for me, at the time when it happened I only had the car for 1 week. I was pretty worried at first as the smoke that was belching out from the alternator pulley area made me think that a bearing had gone and major work. I was fortunate to find the problem was due to a stray bolt left over after a service becomming logged under the pulley.

Hope your problem is not a serious one.

Regards

Colin

crazycats

700 posts

271 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
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Matt

If you haven't already removed the pulley, this tool may be useful,

I've used one on many occasions....worth its weight in gold

edited to add the link cos I forgot

www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=040211435

>> Edited by crazycats on Saturday 28th February 11:04

matt101

Original Poster:

299 posts

281 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
quotequote all
Thanks for the replys chaps, Ive now taken off the fuel rail/ injectors and have moved the alternator out of the way. Although I have taken the large securing nut offthe bottom pulley it wont seem to budge.

That tool looks like it may have to pe purchased crazycats!

Anyone know how this pulley is secured? should it unscrew from the shaft or does it just pull off.

A stray bolt also caused my problems too colin, sounded very "big internal damage" and loads of smoke

crazycats

700 posts

271 months

Saturday 28th February 2004
quotequote all
matt101 said:

Anyone know how this pulley is secured? should it unscrew from the shaft or does it just pull off.


Some pulley shafts are tapered, and are a tight interference fit. Haven't had the pleasure of removing the alternator one, but would guess that a bit of gentle leverage should sort it.

Unlikely to have a woodruff key, but hey you never know

matt101

Original Poster:

299 posts

281 months

Sunday 29th February 2004
quotequote all
The pulley is off!!!!

And guess what, it does have a keyway!

Anyone else who has the misfortune of having to do this, spray a bit of WD40 on it and leave it for a day. Comes off fairly easily then.

Jnr

483 posts

273 months

Sunday 7th March 2004
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Hi Matt,

How you getting on, back up and running yet ???

J

matt101

Original Poster:

299 posts

281 months

Sunday 7th March 2004
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All fixed now but a pretty horrible job and Ive still got back ache from leaning over the engine for 2 days!

Hows the exhaust?

Jnr

483 posts

273 months

Sunday 7th March 2004
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Still sounding like an old yank muscle car at the moment... Haven't had a chance to get anything sorted yet, am back in the UK next week but only for a day so its gonna have to wait till next moneth maybe....

Glad all is fixed, hope to meet up sometime soon again.

J

matt101

Original Poster:

299 posts

281 months

Sunday 7th March 2004
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Must admit it did sound a bit good they way it was





Habib

47 posts

268 months

Sunday 7th March 2004
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matt101 said:
The pulley is off!!!!

And guess what, it does have a keyway!

Anyone else who has the misfortune of having to do this, spray a bit of WD40 on it and leave it for a day. Comes off fairly easily then.


We all add bits a pieces of wisdom such as the above, We could do with adding it to a FAQ manual section for all to read. I bet between the lot of us, we could strip the car down and build it back up!