VR6 eating aux belts - mystery solved!

[diggerbucket 0]

Well after much head scratching I've finally found why my VR6 has eaten 2 auxiliary belts in 1500 miles of driving.

 

My dad was having a look at it and after about 15 mintues of examining it to see if the pulleys were out of alignment he says "erm, why does the alternator pulley only have 6 grooves and all the others have 7?"

 

Brilliant, looks like somebody has replaced the alternator sometime in the past with the wrong one :x

 

So, does anyone know if the pulley can be replaced on its own? Looks like the thing is gonna have to come out completely anyway - and it looks like a pig of a job, I can't see any easy way of getting it out!

[bcstudent 0]

Great post! This sort of thing could well save others lots of grief in the future. Oh, and to your dad, well spotted that man.

[Campbell0240 0]

I've recently changed mine and i found i had to crack the frount mount and jack the engine slightly out of the car to remove the alternator bolts its nothing to complex but you'll probably need to take the lights grille slam panel off etc. Managed it in just over two hours but i had to take a charger off aswell.

[diggerbucket 0]

Thanks Campbell will bear that in mind when I get round to changing mine :)

[buttles 0]

Or put a 6 rib belt on? :idea:

[Supercharged 2]

LOL - new pulley is about £7...

[Supercharged 2]

(you may actually be better off doing it place if you can get onto it with belt tension as holding the pulley is a pain altho you can affrod to damage the old one...)