snapped 3 alternator belts in one day....

[mazdamx3sohc]

about a week and a half ago i was driving around town and i went through about 3 alternator belts withing about a 3 mile radious LITERALLY...they werent too tight they werent to loose, i tried both and everywhere in between...it always squeeled and got really burning hot then snapped, i did do the v6 alt swap, however that was back in new hampshire i drove down here no problems 1500 miles, and a few weeks after i got here the problems started wich is weird cuz i didnt mess with it. what could be the problem??? it is running fine now, now snapping, but it is still squeeling when i start it up and its embarassing when at club meets lol. also i dont think the v6 alt. took care of my idle problems when applying an electrical load. someone please help!

[ElectricEnergy]

Sounds to me like one of the pulleys or idlers for that belt have seized up. If your still having problems with the alternator, maybe you got a bad one. Make sure that all the pulleys and idlers rotate fairly freely.

David

[mazdamx3sohc]

oh yeah way ahead of yah, i checked all the pulleys they spin perfect like buttuh...lol...its not snapping anymore and i brought it to pep boys on 41 in fort myers never go there, they charged me for taking off and putting onthe belt 3 times to check it as well as a diagnosis fee and they didnt even tell me what was wrong with it, they didnt know why it was snapping all they did was put it back together and i got lucky it didnt snap. but they all spin freely including the brand new alternator.

[ElectricEnergy]

Thats weird.

Are your pulleys really rusty? do they have abrasive edges or something that might be wearing through the belt? I have no idea why that would happen if everything is spinning nicely.

David

[mazdamx3sohc]

lol nope they are fine, they are all spinning freely, the arent rusty at all and they arent cutting an edge into the belt, they are breaking right in half like when you pull a piece of rubber apart. lol this sucks, believe me it spent all day at pep boys with mechanics baffled they never came to a conclusion, it may have been too tight yeah, but i dont ever see snapping 3 of them or more i forget withing a friggen mile! lol....also when i touch that belt it is extremely burning effing hot and the p/s one isnt as hot.

[wytbishop]

Back when I had an RS I went thorugh this. I had decided to replace my old cracked stock belt so I got the local parts store stock replacement and it started to squeel that day and broke the next day. I went back with Alternator in hand. They replaced the belt with a Godd Year Gator Back and tested the alternator and said it was good and that one broke the same day. They replaced that one and said they would not replace another one. So when that one broke the same day I went online to try to figure out why.

The bottom line is, the only belt that no one has any trouble with is the stock Mazda belt. I got one from Mazda and it never made a sound till the car retired.

[mazdamx3sohc]

sweet but Thats wierd gatorb backs are the best there is. i went througg 2 tho. why would mazdas work better?

[Custommx3]

You may have a bad alternator bearing... happened to me.

[wytbishop]

I agree it doesn't really make sense. I suspected the alt bearing as it seemed a little stiff to me so I went to the parts place to check it against a new recon and they were the same.

If you have an unusually high draw on the charging system it actually affects how much force is required to turn the alternator, which may cause slipping. I didn't think that was the case with mine and it probably isn't the case with yours either...but it could be.

Whatever it was, the Mazda belt solved it.

[mazdamx3sohc]

lol mazda solves everything! i can spin the alternator bearing and let go it will still spin a bit...idk this is a nightmare i bought it at vip auto up north and they dont have that here in florida lol im sure it is under warrenty too lol.

[wytbishop]

I'd say your best bet is to get a Mazda belt. It solved my problem.

[mazdamx3sohc]

well see the thing is on my alternator i need a half inch longer belt cuz i swapped the v6 alt so now with the stock belt it can't go any looser and its already way to tight so i put on a half inch bigger.

[shameem]

When you swap v6 alt you have to change the pulleys too and you shouldnt have any problem with standard belt sizes

V6 and i4 use different groove pulleys - you have to use the right one.

[mazdamx3sohc]

well i did swap the pulleys out, the stock belt is too tight though i don't know but the stock size i had to pry it on even when it was loose all the way.

[ElectricEnergy]

Are you able to deflect the belt much when its on there? It could very well be that its just too tight.