I have been very lucky tonight and I thought I should share my experience by way of a warning to others not to do as I so foolishly did.

I left work in fading light and as I pulled out of the underground carpark, I noticed the battery light had not gone out as per usual after startup. I jumped out, popped the bonnet and in the poor light I couldnt see anything amiss, and put it down to a possible dying alternator.

In hindsight what I did next was somewhat foolish, after reading all the advice on here... I decided to make a run for home with daylight just about OK for sidelights initially and the heaters/radio etc switched off, the volts reading 7-9 - lower once dipped beam was needed.

I got home and parked her under a decent light in a garage to find the alternator/aircon aux belt (the double sided one) had come off the lower pulley I think, still intact but somewhat loose with an 8 inch outer sliver of the outer edge of the belt missing. I have no idea as to how this has happened, I think it must have occurred on start up this evening???
The Cam belt was changed about 2 and a half years ago, and the aux belts were done just over a year ago with a good few thousand miles done since.

It is getting towed to a specialist over the weekend for a full set of belts and a once over to be on the safe side.

Whilst I dont want to start scare mongering, I just want to stress the importance of checking the condition of your belts and if the battery light doesnt go out, stop and check things over properly.

I consider myself lucky not to be staring at a bill for a top end rebuild through my own stupidity of not properly checking something that should have been imprinted by now!

very lucky!

I'm happy for you nothing snapped.

I think that for all Coupe's the belts are quite a weak point. So I will check regular.

Very lucky John.
And you were just saying at the agm how reliable it had been over the last year.
First time I have known the Aircon belt to fail and not take out the engine.

Be keen to see what's caused this when I see it on Monday.

I have no idea what or how it happened, I do know that I have done a bit of motorway driving over the last couple of days, if it had gone then...
Just thankful it happened (I think) on start up this evening and then lowish revs all the way home... all 8 miles of it

I had a pull on the belt in order to try and see for myself how/what happened, thats how I found the missing sliver. I expected to pull out a broken belt, but it just seems to have jumped off a pulley??? God knows how I got away with it.

In fairness, she has been faultless over the last year, so I cant complain too much! I have jinxed it even more now havent I?

Very lucky indeed

Gwar

does a tensioner look to have failed? Any noisey running from the belts area prior / bearing noise?

I can't see anything obvious wrong, although its not the easiest area to look at. I haven't heard any strange noises recently either, I start the engine in a morning then have to walk past front of the car to open my gates so I would have heard something.

The under tray is in place so I have ruled out a stone flicking up and dislodging it (if that's even possible?).

I hope something did cause it and JBT can find out why so it can be prevented in future.

Perhaps we should do a survey of ever belt failure to see if we can find out whats happening.

- Belt age
- Tensioners/idlers age
- Snapped, frayed, perished
- Previous history of belt problems
- Engine modified (to xxx bhp)
- Model belts fitted
- What were you doing when it went (full power launch, slowing, turning steering)
- Undertray fitted?
- etc..

Does anyone remember years ago on 5th gear VbH was driving a Aston Martin (vanquish?) and everytime she tried to do a doughnut a belt would come off. AM flew in on a helicopter to fix it.
-

Glad you got away with it X19 - Its a little worrying reading how many similar stories to this there are on the forum recently. Is there something amiss here? I tried to settle myself a while ago for the first post or two thinking a pulley alignment issue perhaps but theres so many more stories like this occurring? Even when the belts are only a year or two old.... My aux belts are done every other year but I'm thinking now it may be time for a JBT modified pulley next time.......

I want to be lucky like you X19_pilot

You're a lucky boy, ginge, and if i were you i'd get JBT to fit one of his guards on whilst he's working down there anyway.....every little helps, and gawd knows you need it

I'm still counting the cost of my aux belt failure - car is currently in bits, with a new head being ported by Barbz

By the time I've paid Barbz to build the head, Paul to fit it and Leighton to re-map it, I'll be looking at WAY into four figures (or a few hundred if you're my missus... )

All for a £15 belt

I will try and get a couple of pictures posted tonight.

Those of you who were not as fortunate, did your belts snap/fray? My belt was as near as makes no odds, 12 months old and has covered 7000 miles at the most



The belt guard is a good shout proccy!
I don't know what JBT works on 'down there' for you, but I can assure you I won't be asking for the same service!

er, I think it frayed a bit.....

Aux belt was around two years old - maybe 40,000 miles

same thing happened to mine, when i still had it °(, no damage either, although mine did snap and wrapped itself round the bottom pulley, just good luck it never damaged the cam belt

to be fair from your maintenance other than driving it home with the battery light on which i did as well, i don't think there is anything you could have done to prevent it as the aux belts were only changed a year ago, seems to be a more prominent prob as these cars get older

Lucky guy you are! It would have been a painful one...

Thanks for sharing, now if we get in to a similar situation we know where to have a good look at!

As promised, hopefully you guys can spot why this happened, bear in mind I have pulled the belt round to look for signs of damage:

X19_pilot you were very lucky.

Just checked my records and it's 20,000 miles and 4 years since all my belts were changed so I will order a complete set (and tensioner bearings) from Steve at AA.

Thanks for the reminder!

given the lack of reliability of these belts i do wonder what the cause is.

when belts let go they normally wear in a uniform manner and show signs of decay and aging across the whole belt.

to have part wear on one side has to be caused by something.

im wondering if the pulley profile or alignment is a contributing factor to failure

belts should not go in that manner. if it is a branded belt the manufacturing of the belt would give rise to similar failures in other cars if that was at fault.

Clear to see what's failed here.
Look at the last picture and you can see the tensioners let go.

The silver part visible near the timing covers,shows the bearing exposed.
The pulley plastic has detached from the bearing itself.

If you look on my website,you can see the results of the last one I saw like that.
Knocked all 20 valves.

And this isn't the first time you have been lucky with belt issues.
I remember the ps pulley ripped itself off the pump one of the first times I saw it a few years back.

Very lucky. I had the aux belt start too chew it self on the morning off a meet. Thankfully JBT had 1 in stock and came too the rescue. It was like a mini meet outside my house that morning.

Nigel - I assume you ARE getting an aux belt gaurd fitted this time

Thanks for explaining this John, it has put the wind up me a bit, usually the phrase goes "third time lucky"... 2 failures now and I hope I dont have a third.

Are the tentioners a common problem? Are there any improved aftermarket options?

I think a belt guard will be the order of the day.

The PS pulley was done just over a year ago - that memory of yours must be getting cold in these winter months without the former plumage to keep it warm and active!
It happened just after I fitted my turbo after last years AGM. I was concerned that that one might have been caused by me, thank fully not, but I have never dare touch the belts since!

Known two of these fail so its not common.

Some say belts set too tight but I think for it to detach in such a way it's down to the bearing seizing maybe.
Speculation only at this point until I have a look Monday.

Just recieved a few pictures from JBT... To say I was lucky would be the biggest understatement of the century

Run out quick now!!and do the lotto!!remember me when you win

I thought the very same thing! To think I drove it for 8 miles too!

I wouldn't play the lottery,you've used up all your luck .

I don't know how anything got in there as the ps belt was intact however the contaminats were plastic so the pulley must've made it's way into there by osmosis.

Of all the cars I would definitely say this one would've wrecked the engine as the tyre blew out on me once forcing me up a bank and then the oil cooler burst.
I'm sure that was on the same day as well wasn't it John ?