alternator belt problems

[danielismyname]

I have a 95 1.0 geo metro and i have replaced the alternator belt about 8 times now. It would start squeaking, so i would tighten the alternator, and it would be fine for a day or so then it would break off. Then i welded a new nut on the u bracket and it would stay tight but it would start squeaking again and would break basically every 3 days. I have used belt dressing and the only thing that does is not squeak. But it still breaks. If anyone has any ideas or help that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[avfan]

I had the same problem on my 94 1.0 l but mine was because I had left the inside bolt out of the alternator and the belt was running crooked. After I finally put a new belt in,(about a year before I figured out what was wrong) and got it running straight it was fine. Also mine wouldn't charge all the time while the alt. was crooked. The squealing is probably from your belt rubbing against the front of the pully.Is there a lot of black rubber residue on the underside of your hood? Also after you put the new belt on does it smoke? Thats what mine was doing,just too lazy and dumb to get under car and see that one bolt was missing lol. Hope this helps

[Crvett69]

might also check and make sure water pump and alt spin freely with belt off. had one here that did same thing, the water pump would bind once in a while and belt would smoke for a few seconds then break

[danielismyname]

Hey thanks for responses. Yea i do have a LOT of black rubber residue under my hood. I went through a bunch of belts, haha. But i dont ever recall it smoking. The water pump and alternator spins freely, i checked those just now. I took the alternator out and cleaned of the ridges, i am about to put it back on. Do u know how to properly align the alternator and pulleys to ensure that they are parallel, to prevent slippage?

[avfan]

your alt should have 2 bolts 1 in the front bottom and 1 in the rear,i never realised mine didnt have a bolt in the back. as far as i know,if you have both bolts in it creates the pivot point for the alt and should be lined up

[Creosote]

I have had a customer come in with the alternator installed in the wrong position, the belt was severly misaligned.
The person who put the alternator on this 1.0 had the mounting ears of the alternator to the rear of the ears on the mounting bracket. the clue fo me was the customer wanted a belt of the wrong size for her geo,someoe told her she had a "special" model. the only thing special was the fellow who did not care enough about his work ,that he sent a young female customer out with a car that was primed to strand her.

[avfan]

When mine started tearing up belts i thought about putting it on that way,but you can see its about 1-2 inches out of line with the other pulleys before you even get near it with a belt.Someone was taking that girl for a ride and giving anyone that works on cars another black eye. Hope you took care of her!

[avfan]

danielismyname,Iwalked my self back through all I had to do to fix mine, here it goes.
Make sure both bolts are in the bottom of the alternator,the back one is not so easy to get to but it is important it's into keep alt square
Take a piece of string and run from 1 pulley to the other and see if they are lined up.Take string from outer point to outer point of pulleys.String should run straight.
Make sure all pulleys turn freely-no binding or catching.

Tighten belts properly ,it seemed that the tighter the belt was the better mine worked ,it would feel tight to me 1/4 inck or less play at largest gap ,but it wouldn't charge.
check your alt pulley for rough edge possibly causing the black rubber build up on hood ,and I imagine everything else if it's like mine
You cant be to straight on the pulleys so double check everything mine was off just by the slack the back bolt on the bottom of the alt and gave me problems for a year.
Good luck with this if you still have problems post back,
avfan

[danielismyname]

Thanks alot for the help. I did that stuff and i think that was the problem. I never realized that the alternator could not be aligned. I figured it just straightened it self when you tightened it down.But....when i started my car i let it run for a couple of minutes to let the belt warm up, and i had forgotten that i was low on gas and my car stopped. i went and got gas, and poured it in, but now it wont start. Itll turn but wont catch. I dont think this has to do with the alternator but im confused. I tried starting it about 9 times and just stoped because i wasnt sure if itll hurt the starter. If anyone might know about this problem please help. thanks again for all of the suggestions.

[flashlight]

Mine started to squeak the day after I had put it on. And at firs I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Then I realized after reading the manual again that I hadn't tightened it up so I did and now the sqeuaking has stopped. I did find that the best leverage is a crowbar if you're very careful with it because it will fit into some of those tight little spaces better than a pice of wood.