1985 308 GTS Euro - Single Alternator Belt. I have been trying to figure out why this car continues to burn up alternator belts for over a year now. I have checked the pulleys; both look to be smooth and free of imperfections, the alternator pulley seems to spin freely. It will be fine for the first 30-minutes of driving and than it starts the squeal and burn up the belt again. I believe the car had this issue when I purchased it over a year ago. Has anyone else dealt with this issue? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all.
The last time I burn an alternator belt was because the belt was loose sometimes it may seem tight but it’s not so check the tension and also the alignment.
My belt is squeaking and I noticed that the pulleys are offset from each other. Alternator pulley being further out. Not sure if this is the way it's supposed to be (doubt it) or someone has stacked some washers in the wrong direction. Or the alternator tensioner rail is bent. But it must cause side-load on the belt and early failure. I just received belts this afternoon, so I'm going to see if that helps when I replace TBelts and water pump. Definitely going to look into that offset also. I think something is wrong. Maybe yours is the same?
Make sure the belt is centered in the middle of the pulley grooves for all the pulley’s not just the alternator
I think we are having the same issue. I am going to jack the car up this weekend and do a more thorough inspection. Any luck with yours?
I wonder if you guys might have alternators that were "upgraded" when previously rebuilt. Even the stock 80A alternator caused enough problems for F to do a serious (and extensive) SB 10-10: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Interesting, Steve! I took a peek from under the car a couple hours ago, but since she's peeing a little oil, I wasn't in the mood to slide far enough under to get a better look. Here is how it looks from above. You can see a slight offset on the left. My belts haven't been done in probably 9 years or so, with few miles in that time. So things are pretty dried out. At some point in the next couple weeks I'm going to do the timing belts and water pump. At the same time, of course these belts. So that's when I'll really get to know what's going on there. I figured mine would be an exception to the rule since it was modified a lot by Philip (PM1010) and Sheehan. Image Unavailable, Please Login
On the 2 belt cars that happened for 2 reasons. Belt was too loose (people do not understand what tight is) or the water pump bearings were going south. It was a terrible design and we saw hundreds of melted belts and it was always one of those 2 reasons.
Were the crank pulleys removed to fit the XDI toothed timing wheel to the crank damper? If ther is an alignment issue, it almost looks like the pulleys weren’t properly seated back on the crank nose and might be protruding a couple of mm. Gordon
I’m my case, you both might be right. Never thought about the crank pulley being too far out. And I know my water pump is on its last legs. I just received a new one from Ricambi and will do that as part of a TB swap in a couple weeks. FWIW the water pump belt on mine looks aligned, so Rifledriver may be right on this. They are all very tight. Tighter than I would have made them on other cars. Will be interesting to see what OP finds. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
1978 GTS US. Single belt for alt and water pump. 65 amp alt. I had some trouble getting the belt tight enough so made a tool out of a Home Depot turn buckle. The flats on the ends wedge between the crank and alt pullies so I can adjust it by lengthening the turn buckle. Works great and leaves two hands to tighten the alt bracket. Image Unavailable, Please Login
This is what I’ve used, it’s called the Belt Jack by Supco, and it works great, available at Amazon. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yay! I’m finally done with long screwdrivers, wooden dowels, bloody knuckles and trying to make two hands work like three. Buying this! [emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
I struggle to hold tension with 1 hand and then use 2 wrench to tighten the bolt with the other and made a little tool similar to what others have posted
My long screw driver hooks behind the brake rotor and holds itself. A special wrench I made and a long extension and a socket tightens it. Leaves me a free hand for a cold drink. No point in working hard.
I would never pass up an excuse to own another tool so….. The right answer is whichever one I don’t already have.
Alignment is the crux .As Brian says a duff WP bearing or as others have said if it’s been removed / replaced and incorrectly “ shimmed “ with washers when put back . Go to post #12 here . https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/alternator-removal.663149/#post-148668347 I have no trouble. BTW simple traditional large screw drive to lever the thing tight seemed to work . The pic Marenello mark posted ^ post #11 on this thread does show left offset .Which will be problematic.
Guys, My apologies, had some family issues. I bought a new belt, installed and tightened it has much as I could (like RifleDriver said). Think I have put around 50-miles on the car and no more issues with the belt at this point. Fingers crossed it holds up. Thanks all, I really appreciate the help.
