Knackered Alternator belt!

Driving home a little while ago an ominous red battery light shone through the dark, pulling over and thanking god I has changed the batteries in my torch had a look under the bonnet to find the alternator belt hanging limply down, not connecting to the alternator. A quick look at the belt and almost half the teeth are missing off the the one side the other half look like they wouldn't last long and its split down to the cords inside the rubber. I cut the belt off and made my way home luckily only a few miles.

Now its to dark to see in great detail all looks ok around the alternator but I was wondering could it be a problem with the alternator or just a crap belt? I changed the belt mid September and have not done many miles since. As far as I can remember (been to sleep since then!) I did the tension right, I changed all the belts at the same time and everything appears fine.

Just wondering if I should be bracing myself for spending more money in he morning!

can you rotate the alternator by hand?

Yep, it turns nicely.

it should be ok then,
had similar problem with mine,
and turned out the alternator had seized up.

What kind of Aux belt was it,
i think the dayco ones are highly regarded.

I can't see a make on the back of it. I ordered it from Paddocks with a job lot of other belts and bits and bobs.

Just hoping its a crap belt, otherwise I can only think I have tightened it to much?

yeh,
theres always that,
alternator would be fine though as it had charged your battery enough to get you home at night, does it still have a charge in it to start it?

By the time I got home the lights were only a little dimmer than normal, I had switch all other stuff like heater etc off.

I left the car for about 15mins when I got home (had to run in and use the little room, something to do with my age I'm told!) The Disco fired up again straight away. I have took the battery off just and have bought it down the house to check/poss put on charge for tomorrow and it seams fine.

alternators fine then,
good job,
cost me around £200.00 to replace mine.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the advise/response, at least I'm not as worried about waking up to a big bill in the morning!

Have a great New Year bud

cheers,
and you.