Alternator belt breakage... :(

[Brian Rages]

Hmm, after getting my Jetta back on the road, I noticed that the alternator belt was squealing a lot. One time, I took a look at it, and I think the idler was tensioned as tightly as it could go. So I left it alone.

Last night, driving home from work, I heard a little noise under the hood, and, sure enough, the battery light came on. So I'm pretty sure the alternator belt has broken.

I replaced all the belts in this car not too many miles ago.

What's going on? Anybody else have a problem like this? Try some belt dressing next time? Should I mail-order a nice Continental belt, or just put on whatever the auto parts store has for me?

Of course, this means I have to take all the other belts off again.

And I have A/C and power steering.

[hagar]

I replaced all the belts in this car not too many miles ago. What's going on? Anybody else have a problem like this?

hagar sez -- worry not -----you have lot's and Lot's of company in Amerika.----why ? read on.

You just had an encounter with the "V" belt monster. ---it eats belts for snacks. . The SAE belts is THE problem.------VW's ---MUST have ISO metric belts ---read my lip's.

The slope in the "V" is different.----get it ? ---cost hagar a LOT of belts..----- I think I will have a belt of BEER.

hagar.

[Pu241]

You just had an encounter with the "V" belt monster. ---it eats belts for snacks. . The SAE belts is THE problem.------VW's ---MUST have ISO metric belts ---read my lip's.

The slope in the "V" is different.----get it ? ---cost hagar a LOT of belts..----- I think I will have a belt of BEER.

Just had the same thing happen to me!

So the McParts places (Autozone, Advance, O'Rily's, etc) are stocking SAE belts?
Where do we get the ISO belts?
Is the dealer our only option?
Guess I should check with Jack and see if I can get a new correct belt!

[hagar]

To kill the MONSTER ??? find out if JACK can supply proper belts . Ignore the ISO part ---BUT get proper belt;s

When hagar FINALLY got a proper belt for Bunny Bondo in 2003 I never had to readjust (tighten) to this day 2008 ----it is made in Danmark --EH ? hows about that ?.

Them Danes are NOT all Koffi and Danish ? EH ? beats me how they wound up making some of the worlds best belt;s ---like Stærkodder . loosely translated Strong Otter .

hagar.

PS : do not kill the mockingbird.

[Greenmachine]

Hmm, after getting my Jetta back on the road, I One time, I took a look at it, and I think the idler was tensioned as tightly as it could go. So I left it alone.

Sounds like it might have been too tight. I noticed if I over-tighten mine it starts to slip, gets hot, then it slips even worse and wears poorly and breaks. I had to learn to chill out on the tension, the specs on non a/c call for pushing it to a seam on the block, which isn't all that tight. I have plenty of room on the tensioner when the belt is properly installed.

[wewantutopia]

With all this talk about alternator belts lately I'm wondering about this statement:

The SAE belts is THE problem.------VW's ---MUST have ISO metric belts ---read my lip's.

The slope in the "V" is different.----get it ?

If the SAE belts have a different slope than the metric belts, where can we Americans get belts with the right slope?