Generator belt eaten away in days, need advice!

[kalia]

Hello,

I bought this Kei car in February and replaced the worn out generator/AC belts with local ones as OEM belts weren't available. I had them tightened a few times and they worked for 2,3 months until I had to replace them a month back.

• Alternator belt broke a couple of weeks back when I was with my family. My electrician did a band aid fix by replacing both belts with a new pair and told me that he had found a loose bolt that was not checked earlier and this should permanently fix it. I couldn't stand and argue at 3pm with my family sitting in the car.

• Last week, it again made those squeals, but this time I felt they had tightened it too much. I went to them and they loosened them for me.

• Four days back, the noise seemed reminiscent of the one that was the precursor of the belt breaking so I went to the same workshop. They said, the pulley is too smooth and sharp, so they need to replace the generator pulley which I eventually did and replaced it with a Kabli one.

• It has been 3 days and tonight I travelled to Islamabad and the sound was horrible. I just came back and am thankful I am not on the road at this time.

Symptoms: The belt makes squealing chirpy sounds (mostly at night), when lights and AC are on. Squealing starts when I brake at a signal and when it gets worse and the belt is nearing its end, it squeals at every turn or braking, or moving from idle state.
Turning lights off fixes it in most cases. In worse cases, I have had to turn off AC, headlights and shift car to neutral. It is not nice approaching every signal with headlights off or leaving a signal doing the same.

Summary: So far, I have replaced 3 belt pairs, 1 pulley, had belts tightened and loosened to absolutely no effect. My car has eaten away 3 belt pairs in less than 500 km. Generator belt is most worn but I get both replaced just to be sure. Obviously, these guys aren't doing their job well and I need to go to someone else. Reason I haven't gone to anyone else is because my father and elder brother kind of have a soft spot for these guys. I am going to go to someone else this time, in any case, but I need to know what specifically I need checked and the possible fix. I do not want another band aid fix and do not want myself stranded on the road in Ramadan.

My own take: I have a hunch generator bearings might be stiff. They are probably not letting the generator pulley spin as fast as the engine is trying to spin it through the belt and the belt might be heating and shedding off as a result. I noticed a lot of belt debris in generator pulley grooves and around the pulley area.

Is that plausible?

Any suggestion/comment/advice in this regard is sincerely appreciated.

[kalia]

Am I the first to face worn out belts so frequently.

[syncview]

your own take could pretty much be it, get the generator and other pulleys inspected.. any good electrician should be able to confirm the issue in a few seconds.

[coolsmart]

your assumption seems right.
The squeal noise should go away with tightening of belt. I once cleaned the bearing with tooth brush and soapy water with
engine running but its dangerous, other have put grease on belt, but at the end belt should be tight. ur assumption carries weight.
When ac and lights are on it put load on engine through these belt.

[Xulfiqar]

remove belt check all pulleys for smooth spinning, if you find an idler or any pulley notchy you need to repair that. Check the belt length too.

[cooldevil]

check the alignment of generator, compressor and engine . they should be in exactly a straight line! little diversion of the pulleys will make the belt hot and it will shred upon bearing the load! check the pulleys free movement by hand and compare it with other pulleys rotation. my car also had this problem! my generator wasnt aligned. after generator location setting, problem vanished ALHAMDULILLAH!

[kalia]

Thank you guys for the input. I am a little reassured that I am not just throwing arrows in the dark. Here are a few details.

1- I checked the alignment, and had him check, it seemed OK. I will double check. Pulley movement wasn't shaky either. I did not notice it move about and they never said anything about the alignment either, they said its too sharp and shiny so it spins and cuts the belt.

2- I told him not to replace pulley as I found the pulley perfectly fine but they are kind of connected with my elder brother so I cannot argue much. They changed it. In taking out the pulley, they hammered it out of shape and its unusable. The kabli one they put in, is OK, but I don't feel I did justice to the car by Okaying the pulley change in the first place.

3- There is a lot of belt debris on the generator side and Generator pulley is very hot to touch, as is the generator. They pulled it out and I noticed them finding it hard holding it even with a fabric to protect from the heat. I know its a car and supposed to be hot in the engine bay, but the debris stuck in the pulley grooves and around the generator makes me think temperature has some part to play in this.

My final query before I investigate it further, how do I know bearings have given way. I spun the pulley when they took the generator. It wasn't spinning light like a plastic top obviously because generator motor has its weight but it spun without any sounds, and in a perfect circle. Thank you all again for the input above!

[imranbhatti]

The extra heat & belt debris on alterantor pully is just because the belt being continously slipping & causing extra heat. If the pullies & associated moving parts seem fine then another reason which may lead to such situations could be the excessive electric load in terms of some after market gadgets or fualty Battery etc.

I had pretty much similar issue faced with my car (Though not a JDM). The One Short cell in battery was causing genset to run most of the time on full load & except the car was in idle electric load condition alternater belts keeps slipping & squealing, Upon tightening the belt to limit in my car case the impact shifted towards the wirring side ( as the car is Cultus 2005 & would not have been tough Electric system) so the Momentarily run on RPM ~4000 starts causing burning/melting of Cable Lug termianting the main power cable to Alternator. With any of the associated load o like Raidator Fan, Wiper, Head light, Fan blower, ETC the alternator used to deliver almost of its full power.

After a hectic search & trouble shooting the battery found to be culprit as one of its 6 cell was short & causing Excessive current being drawn from Gesnset most of the time.
So jsut have look on ur Battery volatge in stand by wen engine wwithced off the vlotage shud be ~ 12.5 and also check the gravity ellectrolyte in each cell if the garvity The exceptionaly low garvity in one cell as compared to other could be due to short cell.

[Rummat81]

Take off the belts and spin the alternator and Tensioner pulley to check for bearing issue. A faulty bearing could cause noise as well as heat. If it does not spin smoothly that is one issue.

[kalia]

Update: Generator replaced.

What can I say about the talent of Pakistani mechanics and electricians. I called another old mechanic who said it could be bearings. I went to the same guys though who have been working on it. They today suspected the water body pulley as faulty and said it should be changed to which I said no way. Their senior mechanic said, the water body pulley has one sharp edge which is cutting the belts.
I showed him the belt that they took out today. Its ribs had been equally ripped at most places and at a certain spot, all 4 ribs were fine. I said, its not the pulley or its sharp edge as it would not have left all 4 ribs relatively fine at this spot.
They suggested I put in a 3 rib belt instead of 4 and another said lets put in a Japanese one. It was probably another local belt, that they now wanted to sell me as Japanese. I said OK, but I want you to accompany me on a long drive to test it. They first corner I turned with AC on and headlights on, it squealed again exactly like it did previously.
I took him back and had him open the generator. Generator and the belt was hot as hell while AC belt was fine. Mithu ka ahaata was close by so I got a Kabli generator and got it fitted. It looked relatively less used.
Finally, I drove from Saddar to Taxila with the two mechanics and a spare belt just to test the new setup. It cost me fuel, labour and a dinner with the mechanics, but It is working fine so far. But its only 90 KM on the road. I will keep an eye on it and I just hope it doesn't give me any problems now, especially in Ramadan.

Thank you again for all your vital inputs.