Aux belt issue

[leep]

Hi guys,

Went for a drive in the S14a today, decided to put my foot down and smelt rubber very strongly followed by squealing belt and finally a battery light on the dash and temperatures raising rapidly.
After getting mr green flag to take me home i had a look at the car expecting something to be seized but everything spins lovely and free, i can hear compression inside the water pump too.
So should i just put a new belt on and see what happens or is there anything else i need to check before going for it?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Lee.

[Jon]

Saying "Temperatures raising rapidly" reads to me as though the gauge had not hit red yet.

It does sound like you had a noisy warning of the problem, and so the problem did not have time to get too serious.
You should be OK with a new belt.

If one belt has failed, and you've not been moving the alternator around recently to cause this, then I'd be looking at the other two too, as they are the same age. Replacing all three is not expensive compared to most other car costs.

[Jon]

Be grateful for squealing noises and rubber smells
If the belt had departed silently, the consequences would be likely to be much worse.

[leep]

I was driving along steady at 70-75C as always and in 25 secons i was at 95C so i turned the car straight off and pulled over. After waiting for transporter, the temperatue was back down at 50C and the car started with no issues and i drove it onto the trailer and when i got home i pulled it off the trailer and onto my driveway with no issues.

I'm going to try a new belt tomorrow and will replace the PAS belt too (have removed A/C). Just thought it was strange to happen the way it did and not just an instant snap. The bay was full of fibres from the belt and ground down rubber, as if the belt had been rubbing on something before it went. I was expecting the alternator or water pump to be seized.

[leep]

Be grateful for squealing noises and rubber smells
If the belt had departed silently, the consequences would be likely to be much worse.

Yeah, it did seem strange but as soon as the battery light came on i knew what had happened

Just one of those things, happened on a terrible road in the middle of rush hour too so that made it all the more fun!

[Jon]

You didn't mention the engine bay full of fibres at the top

If any of the pulleys involved have seized, then it could mangled the belt in the way you describe. All possibilites are rare though.
Alternators tend to fail internally and just stop charging properly, and water pumps tend to fail gradually and leak coolant.
I haven't read of a belt being mangled for a long time.

In your case, all these things obviously need checking now.

[leep]

You didn't mention the engine bay full of fibres at the top

If any of the pulleys involved have seized, then it could mangled the belt in the way you describe. All possibilites are rare though.
Alternators tend to fail internally and just stop charging properly, and water pumps tend to fail gradually and leak coolant.
I haven't read of a belt being mangled for a long time.

In your case, all these things obviously need checking now.

I'll give everything a check tomorrow as i only had a brief look today.

Also what belts would you reccommed? Any links if possible would be brilliant?

Thanks

[shaboy]

Have a quick look to see if any bolts have fallen out or something. I had one fall out on my Westfield and it got wedged between the crank pulley and block, made a nice groove in the back of it

[leep]

To follow this up,

Took my fan etc off today and checked all pulleys and found nothing at all, replaced with new belt and new PAS belt while i was there.

Everything is working as it should, just one of those strange issues i guess. I'm going to put it down to an old belt!

[Jon]

Good news

Curious:
Was there any sign of age cracking on the removed PAS belt ?

[markcro]

My engine bay was full of fibres from a track day as the fan belt started to come apart. I doubt any belt will just snap, it will start to delaminate and slip first. Not sure though. See my thread from 2 or 3 weeks back. I changed all three belts while I was at it. They were all 15 years old and perished.