Repeating Alternator Belt Snapping

[1fastmx3]

My belt started to squeak in December of 06 it began as a gradual squeak it would be a squeak here and there. Then when I'd cut my heat on it began to squeak constantly. Finally going down the interstate the belt had snapped, which in turn burned up my thermostat. I changed my thermostat, waterpump, then timing belt and timing belt tensioners, spark plugs, valve cover gasket, and of course alternator belt, and power steering belt. The squeaking continued but this time it's more of a constant squeak, then my alternator died. So I replaced my alternator after having the old one check and it was burned up because all of the belt debry that had flown into it. So I had figured and was told by the mechanic the squeaking was caused by the pulley on my alternator. Well I replaced it on Tuesday. I had figured I better buy me a new belt since my last one had some wear on it. I bought a Good Year Gatorback *the quiet belt* thinking this would surely resolve my problem. Less than 8 hours later, after replacing the alternator and belt. I woke up to go to work early and cold in the morning and sure enough 3 minutes into my drive the Gatorback belt snaps, I was half way to work so I got there and later replace my belt in the parking lot with a new duralast belt. My problem is I have gone back to square one with this thing. I just read on here that there's a few people that have had the same problem. Instead of going under the heading of Replacing Alternator, and since I have already done so I decided I'd go ahead and start a new topic on this problem. I've been told there may be a few solutions to this problem.

1. I've been told to check my pulley's (which I have done) but I can't see any kind of play in them. Also they are lined up perfectly so I"m thinking this solution doesn't seem right.

2. Belt dressing (I've been told by a numerous amount of people that this should work, but it's only a temporary solution to a permanant problem. So I'm trying to get this resolved for good)

Please if you've had this problem and found a solution please feel free to let me know it would greatly be appriciated.

[PATDIESEL]

It should be fine since you've repalced all the stuff on the Alt belt. I would suggest that you actually measure your belt tension if you can, you might be over tightening it and wearing out pulley bearings or the belt. Make sure your water pump pulley is on the right way. It would be hard to put on backward, but I'm grabbing at straws. Check each pulley with the belt not acutally on the car, but laid against the pulley. Do this while making sure the pulley is the right width and number of ribs. Perhaps you have a funky pulley that is not acutally for a MX-3 on one of the parts you've recently replaced. Run the car in the driveway with the hood up. See if you can get someone to rev the motor slightly and you watch the belt. I'd stand back and wear safety glasses just in case it snaps again. Look for any pulley that is wobbeling, shifting or otherwise acting funny.

[lycanthrope]

Are you sure your mechanic replaced your alternator? heh heh, If these symptoms "started in December", i have a strong feeling you have faulty electrical circuit.

Have you had your battery tested? if your battery won't hold a good charge it will overload your alt...

If your pulleys line up like you say thay do, it could be that you are putting too much load on the alt, i don't know what could have changed on your electrical system (you didn't mention a microwave installation), however, i'd check your grounds, batery terminals and any leads connecting your alt, it's probably shorting somewhere an placing waaaay to much load on the alt, which would cause it to heat up and fail prematurely...

this would explain the increase in squeaking from the increase in load required by running the heater fan (which is most likely running the a.c. as well to kill fog on the cold windows), a.c. compressor plus the fan will overload the faulty circuit...


Good luck,
Leon

[1fastmx3]

I ran my car from the Bank to my house about 20 minute drive and my belt didn't make a noise. Today I got off work with my other vehicle and tested out to see if it would make noise while it was cold. I didn't hear anything. This problem may have been resolved but I have yet to see for sure. Tonight I will go to autozone and try this belt dressing but I won't use it til i hear my belt squeaking again. I appriciate you guys taking the time to check into this and giving me some ideas. Lycan, you've got me thinking I need to take a gander at my speakers in the back because I'm thinking that it could be draining some power. I'm thinking maybe a lightning cap or two may resolve it from happening again. Yeah my mechanic's my uncle and I helped him out. It was crazy getting that alternator out of there cause we had to drop out the muffler from the bottom. It was 2 ways that thing was coming out, and the muffler was definitely the easiest. Pat, we checked out the tension on the belt a few times. I was very surprised when it snapped cause it was suppose to be top of the line Good Year Gatorback but it didn't last at all. This new belt seems to be working a little better so far. Maybe it was the grooves that may have knocked it off the the pulley and caused it to snap. I still haven't figured out this mystery yet but I'm hoping I will find the answer tonight. I'm off the weekend so I figure if it does breakdown or break at least I have the weekend to walk home. haha. Just kidding. I hope that doesn't happen. Thanks again you two for the input, I will keep in touch. Peace.

[lycanthrope]

well, i've read somewhere, i can try to find it again, anyway, it stated that these days the alternators in cars pretty much run the whole electrical system and the battery is just for starting the car, when the alternators are spec'd out for the car it is done so with very little alt resources to charge the battery < 10%, the rest is designed to be consumed by the vehicle's accesories and electrical needs, if for any reason the alternator has to continue to charge or dedicate more of a constant load to charge the battery, it will put strain on the alt, strain = excessive heat, excessive heat = grease/bearing killer, you get the idea, just get your battery checked, at autozone for free if you wish, you may have a dead cell in the battery, alot of time we don't notice because our cars tend to fire right up...

one question, what the hell is belt dressing? sounds like snake oil to me, if the belt is squeaking, fix the problem, not the belt's sounds...

happy hunting...

[1fastmx3]

Yeah, the belt dressing didn't work, what a load of crap. Lol. Well, I'm not sure what the deal is with this thing man. I'm kinda out of options. I checked my alt at autozone, it's all good. I guess it could be something that these things go through. I guess the problem is the engine, maybe i'll just get a 323 gtx instead and forget about this one.

[piper177]

If your alt. is good then make sure you check/clean your grounds, bad grounds can draw extra power. Also like said earlier have you battery checked. A bad batter will also draw excessive power because the alt. will be working harder to power it. Other than that I'm not sure what could be causing it. have you checked the tension of the belts?

[lycanthrope]

alts can and will have intermittent symptoms, i had an alt on a kia that went 30 minutes in the testing bay before finally revealing a problem (this was after the dealer sent me home three times saying there was nothing wrong with the car), i knew something was wrong, however, it wouldn't act up at the dealer, if this "new" alter has snapped a belt already, chances are it has already developed a faulty circuit internally just from the heat created in that incident...

let us know how your battery tests out...

[PATDIESEL]

You can also get a mechanic to test the amp draw from the alternator. That sould tell you if it has some aweful load. You can test the alt ground with a OHM test to make sure it is getting a good ground. This really should be a simple issue, the problem is always diagnosis, not fixing it.

[wytbishop]

http://www.mx-3.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=57612

Check this out it's along the same lines as your issue. I have had the same ongoing problem of snapping alternator belts. I checked and rechecked everything and the problem only stopped when I got a factory mazda belt on there. i don't know how it's different, but it seems to be.

Wytbishop

[lycanthrope]

magical belts? what will mazda come up with next...

[1fastmx3]

that's odd about the factory belt. Last night I snapped my belt again, tomorrow I will go and have the battery tested. I'm thinking it could be a rubbing under my car that may have caused a pulley to maybe bend, or when I make left turns if the actual fender cover would rub belt. I worked over today so that I can fix this problem. I noticed only on left turns that the belt would begin squeaking before it snapped. I'm thinking this rubbing maybe cuts into belt a little at a time and moves off pulley, I observed belt really good today and it looks like there is a definite cutting of some sort going on to the belt because I have a half cut and then a full cut with some splintering of the belt. I also have a funky weird liquid that is coming out from underneath my car, I'm not 100 percent sure but this fluid looks like grease mixed with some oily substance but it's coming from underneat my timing belt which i just changed a few months ago.

[ariesdude]

If the battery and alt check out and you dont have any grounding problems - It may not be alt pulley - it could be the crank pulley or water pump pulley that is bent or damaged.

[christexan]

#1 - Check the accessory belt tensioning pulley (pulley with a screw on it visible from the top, not the timing belt tensioners), mine made the squealing you described (wasn't the belt slipping but thought it was) for awhile before finally totally freezing one day on the way to work, causing the belt to burn through and snap... if yours is dying, it could be that it's fine when cold, as it heats up and the bearings expand, they bind and "snap".... BUT (critical here...)
Stop wasting money on aftermarket belts, I did the same thing you did (after getting a new pulley obviously), and after the third "oem" belt, I followed the advice from previous posters here (years ago now in the forums), and spent the extra for the Mazda brand belt, it's not voodoo, whatever they do, it's simply better than any aftermarket belt, even the car repair place clearly felt they were catering to my whim with no expectation of success. That was 2-3 years ago now, and 40k miles, and not a peep or problem since then (the three belts broke within a month or two of each other until I got the Mazda belt).