Club 80-90 Forums

Waiting for the recovery van. Midway to my destination the battery light came on. I managed to pull off at some services but as soon as I pulled up in the car park the engine fizzed and dropped a load of coolant. On inspection, the fan belt was withered to a thread. I fear the worse

Well that sucks! But peeps will go away & have a quick peek at their v-belts now, so you may have saved someone else. Get towed home and tomorrow when it’s cooled, top up the coolant; then you’ll know where the leak is. Might be fixable, water pump seal maybe and not the head seals hopefully. Oh, don’t put coolant back in as it just a waste at the moment, tap water fine for testing. It sounds like the alternator wasn’t charging the battery due to belt slipping, so you may have caught it early enough assuming the temperature coolant red light didn’t come on. Fingers Crossed. Worst case scenario, you have a head to pull.

Towed to garage, belt changed, running like new.  I think I was very lucky to be near the exit to the services.  The van continued the 320 mile trip to Glencoe and back home without any problems.

That’s one of those jobs where you really should carry a spare and learn to change it yourself.

Our auxiliary belt failed the evening before last on a dark country lane in Cornwall. When we’d found somewhere we could pull in it took about 30 minutes and one 13mm spanner to fit the spare we had, and then we were back on the road. Much better than waiting for the RAC to turn up.

Great to hear Freddie's back to life and you got your holiday too. Like a good news story !