Likely cause of alt. belt failures discovered!

I bought my '86 328 a year ago January, and had it delivered to me in NJ in mid-March, 2009. The following week, while skiing in Colorado, I got hit from behind by a snowboarder and suffered a very serious broken right arm. After flying back to NY for major surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery (the BEST orthopedic hospital in the world), it took months of physical therapy before I was able to drive a stick shift.

When I finally got to drive the 328 in July last year, I had an intermittent squealing from either the alternator belt or the water pump belt. I suspected it was the alternator, and fairly early on, near the end of a long drive, the alternator belt started screaming, and disintegrated. The water pump belt was still intact, so I knew the screaming was from the alternator belt.

I bought a new belt, and my buddy Paul helped me install the belt, as I was not able to work under the car at the time. Belt installed, and drove the car around a bit. I'd still now and then get a little squealing from the belt, but it would come and go. In October, my fiance and I went on a Ferrari club run and luncheon. The car ran great! I dropped her off at her home, and I headed for mine on the interstate. Not long after getting on the highway, the belt started screaming and BAMMMM, it blew. Assuming (big mistake) that it was just the alternator belt, I kept driving. Well, this time, the alternator belt took the water pump belt with it. In no time at all, the car overheated, and I limped off the highway and ended up flatbedding the car home, coolant leaking from everywhere.

Well, the car went up on the lift, and I started tearing things apart. So, off came the alternator, water pump, timing belt covers, hoses, header tank, radiator and a bunch of other stuff. Had the water pump and alternator rebuilt, had the radiator recored, changed the timing belts, refurbished the header tank, changed hoses, etc.

So, this past Saturday (yeah, it turned into a long, drawn out process for various reasons) I was putting the timing belt covers back on in anticipation of putting on the belts, and getting the car started. Well, low and behold, as I'm putting the front timing cover back in place, it strikes me that there is only one stud holding the cover in place. The P.O. or his mechanic had removed the air conditioning compressor and had also apparently removed the two lower studs from the engine block. So the timing cover was pivoting on the upper stud.

I checked the box of parts that I had gotten from the P.O., and sure enough, there were the two missing studs. I reinstalled them and even though I'm not yet ready to install the AC compressor, I put some nuts onto the studs and bolted the cover down nice and snug with all three studs. Now the cover is rock solid. Since the alternator tensioner bracket mounts onto the timing belt cover, having that cover locked down and immovable is critical.

I have yet to start and run the car, but I suspect that I have found the cause of the disintegrating alternator belts. It's hard to keep proper tension on that belt when the timing belt cover is effectively "floating". It also explains why the timing belt pulleys were chewing up the fiber cover and spewing junk all over the place.

Hopefully, I'll have some good news to report very soon once I get her back on the road!!!

 

David,

I was in Breckenridge during "Spring Break" week. The bodies in the emergency room were stacked up like cord wood. Major knee injuries, compound leg fractures, serious head injuries. Every single bed at the medical center and in Vail was full, and the backup on the surgery schedule for "non-emergency" injuries like mine (they considered me to be "ambulatory") was a week to 10 days. Basically, they put me in a temporary splint and said "go to Denver or go back to New York." Staying in Vail or Summit Medical Center was not an option. Since I had no idea where to go in Denver and wasn't about to go into the emergency room at just any hospital and say "fix me," I went back to NYC.

Had I been able to get into surgery in Vail or Summit, I would have done that. But that option wasn't available to me. And it actually worked out well for me, as I was able to do follow up with the surgeon who operated on me, and have the same team remove the plate and screws and clean up scar tissue 8 months later. Thanks to them, I'm back 100%.

 

Well, you've got me one both accounts!!! But let me tell you -- I was in SOOOO MUCH PAIN and was taking such strong pain killers, FURGEDABOWDIT!!!!! I wasn't lookin' at anything but the insides of my eyelids!! LOL (Thank God I can laugh about it now; it was not funny when I was going through it, for sure.) Besides, with my luck, I would have ended up with the room overlooking the side of the parking garage and the nurse named Bruenhilda!!