Club 80-90 Forums

Only had my van a week and have already gone through two alternator belts.

Can anyone confirm which belt I should use on a 45A alternator? According to Just Kampers it should be the 10 x 1100 for this year/engine, but that was what was fitted on Tuesday to replace one that had worn down and 2 short drives later it's shredded to bits  (oil pressure light and alarm came on, as well as the battery light, whole thing boiled over - cracks in the expansion vessel, but that may not be connected).

Is there anything else I should be looking at?

Bizarrely spark plugs one and two were also disconnected.

Wrong size belt perhaps....

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/e ... lt-wp.html

Also check alignment. Post a picture of the alternator. It could be incorrect for vehicle.

And Happy Easter.

Okay. Good enough photo.
Let's step back at bit though. Was the camper running well when you bought it? Was the belt changed for a specific reason? That belt size is too long for a 45 amp alt. Is it getting tensioned to correct play?
Also reading from JK webpage the 45 amp alternator is for air cooled and watercooled up to 1985? Ive owned side by side a 1984 and 1989 T25 and not noticed a difference in set up until you go up to a 95 amp alternator though.

https://www.justkampers.com/vw-t25-part ... belts.html

maybe an optical illusion but it looks as though the alternator fan blades are bent out of line were they fouling the belt?

is the alternator mount bracket cracked perhaps ? it is not uncommon

maxstu wrote: ↑04 Apr 2021, 11:12 Okay. Good enough photo.
Let's step back at bit though. Was the camper running well when you bought it? Was the belt changed for a specific reason? That belt size is too long for a 45 amp alt. Is it getting tensioned to correct play?
Also reading from JK webpage the 45 amp alternator is for air cooled and watercooled up to 1985? Ive owned side by side a 1984 and 1989 T25 and not noticed a difference in set up until you go up to a 95 amp alternator though.

https://www.justkampers.com/vw-t25-part ... belts.html

It ran well when I picked it up, then next day started squealing on startup and losing power straight away. Roadside assistance diagnosed it as the belt, which he thought was worn right down. He replaced it with a 10 x 1100mm belt which was running fine again at first, but then started squealing on startup again. He said it might take a week or so to settle properly so I thought that was what was happening, was still running fine apart from that. The coolant light has always flashed since I looked at it, but the seller dismissed it as "it's always done that" and as it had just passed its MOT I assumed all was fine. Coolant level in the top-up tank was fine.

Then about 5 miles into a journey yesterday the oil pressure light came on and the alarm, I stopped and checked the dipstick, which was fine - possibly a bit overfilled if anything. Next thing the battery light is on as well. It was still running fine though. By the time we got back, there was steam pouring out of the vents and engine bay, engine kept weirdly ticking over for a few seconds even after I turned off the ignition and took out the key.  Opened it up and found the new belt shredded and the expansion vessel cracked and releasing all the steam, and weirdly the two sparkplugs on the right hand side disconnected. Coolant level is still fine in the top-up tank even though the expansion tank is empty and it's all evaporated.
 

I should add that the engine was replaced by a previous owner so may may be from an older van, hence why the 45A alternator.

Sorry. I cant help any more at the moment. Easter Sunday lunch to cook.
But l think the alternator bit is least of your worries right now. The thrown belt stopped waterpump working. Have you checked the waterpump hasnt seized?

maxstu wrote: ↑04 Apr 2021, 14:14 Sorry. I cant help any more at the moment. Easter Sunday lunch to cook.
But l think the alternator bit is least of your worries right now. The thrown belt stopped waterpump working. Have you checked the waterpump hasnt seized?

Thanks for your help, hope you had a good day!

The cog for the water pump seems to be turning so hopefully not seized?

johnwayne wrote: ↑05 Apr 2021, 08:47

maxstu wrote: ↑04 Apr 2021, 14:14 Sorry. I cant help any more at the moment. Easter Sunday lunch to cook.
But l think the alternator bit is least of your worries right now. The thrown belt stopped waterpump working. Have you checked the waterpump hasnt seized?

Thanks for your help, hope you had a good day!

The cog for the water pump seems to be turning so hopefully not seized?

Does it feel smooth when you rotate it?   (check both pulleys rotate easily and smoothly)

What did the belt look like? was it shredded or did it look curly - like it had been melted
 

Don't want to add to your woes, but you should also relocate that fuel filter, it is not recommended that they be located in the Engine bay.

The belt was too big for a start.  45A & 65A alternators use a 10x1075 belt, only 90A alternators use a 10x1100 belt.

TONYT25T25 wrote: ↑05 Apr 2021, 08:58 Don't want to add to your woes, but you should also relocate that fuel filter, it is not recommended that they be located in the Engine bay.

It’s fine , fires are caused by lack of maintenance not fuel filters

Sounds to me like the water pump is the issue , just from how it reads ... 

but red lights mean STOP! immediately, not eventually! 

 The flashing red light in the temp gauge has two functions ....
 1. If the gauge is above 3/4 and it's flashing it means over heating 
 2. If the gauge is below 3/4 and it's flashing , it means low coolant in the header tank. 
  
 If it's says low coolant , and you can see the header tank is full to the brim ( not the number plate flap top up tank) then it's an electrical issue , and simple fault diagnostics will need to be employed ! 
  
 Red flashing coolant light self tests when you switch the ignition on and then goes off ......
  
 The system is very simple....
 The headertank ( the one in the engine bay ) should always be full to the brim, and the top up tank ( behind the number plate flap) should be full to the max mark when cold. When the engine is up to normal running temp the coolant expands and is pushed into the top up tank, when the engine cools down the coolant is sucked back into the header tank