16V fan belt woes

[Helinut]

Hi all, new to the forum.

I've got a 89 big bumper 16 valve with the noisiest alternator belt in the world - ever!. New belt / tightening doesn't seem to help...  The belt is rubbing on the bottom of the groove of the crankshaft pulley... Not good.

Ok, the pulley could be worn, BUT, when I buy belts, they give me a 868 x 11.6mm belt. (The car has power steering). The belt fitted is a  950 x 9.5 (I'm on the third one now). I can't get the 868mm belt to reach over all three pulleys, regardless of what I do so I have to keep using the thinner 950 belt. The 950 is the right length, the 868 is the right width...

A new lucas alternator was fitted by the previous owner, part number LRA00563. I've done some checking and it appears to be the correct one for the car. The alternator pulley looks like it is made for the thinner belt though.

Two possibilities:

1. The crankshaft pulley is worn
2. The alternator is actually for a car without PAS, requiring the extra length belt...?

What length and width belt are you guys using on a 16V with PAS? Is there a trick to installing it?
Any advice / previous experience with a similar problem??

I'm at a loss. 

[Leon R]

If the belt fits the crankshaft pulley but not the alternator then it could be quite likely that the alternator is wrong. When you buy belts do you give your reg number as a guide? GSF sold me 2 wrong PAS belts, gave Euro Car Parts my reg number and got the right one.

Maybe take a picture of your engine bay and alternator setup and i'll show you my engine bay, mines a 1990.

[Helinut]

Here is my general alternator setup. You can see the polished inside of the crankshaft pulley in the first pic. The second pic shows that the alternator belt runs deep in the waterpump pulley but correctly (i think) in the alternator pulley.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc166/gswhitfield/DSC02722.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc166/gswhitfield/DSC02724.jpg

My main concern is that I'm sure I'm meant to have the 868mm wider belt (both, GSF, Eurocarparts and my local motor factor agree on this) and I can't for the life of me get it over all the pulleys. Even totally removing the alternator mounting strut to achieve minimum belt length doesn't work...

[Leon R]

Hi,

The picture showing the belt from the alternator to the pulley doesn't look like its sitting right on the pump pulley. Not really sure if its the camera angle. Also notice that your tensioner mechanism isn't the same as mine.



From when i did the stem seals. you can see the tensioning mechanism isn't the same. You just have a nut and bolt holding it whereas most have a cog and toothed bracket as in the pics i found:



It could be something to do with the space the tensioner is supposed to provide? Best thing to eliminate this would be to get a picture of a alternator tensioner of the same engine of your car

[Davo13]

How tight/slack is the fan belt?  If you press the belt in the middle between the two pully's it should flex about 10mm, I think.  That lock nut on the tensioner doesn't look right
(it doesn't look as if there is anything to lock it in the grooves), if it is the same as the 8v, so it could keep slackening off.  I got a lock nut to fit my 8v off ebay for a few pounds.

[Helinut]

Thanks for the comments

Yes the tensioner is wrong, I'm working on securing a correct one.

I suppose my main question is about the belt length / width. I'll try to find a similar car to look at in the flesh to see what the deal is.


Thanks
Geoff

[VeeDubGTI16v]

they sell all sizes down halfords, take your old one down there and get one a bit longer