Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral Fanbelt Keeps Breaking...

Ello guys,

While waitin to get my new car sorted im driving my mums vauxhall astra 1.8 diesel estate. But we are having repeated problems with the fanbelt...

A few months ago it snapped, got it replaced, and it was ok for a while. Then it snapped again, took it to a garage again had it replaced and according to my mum she said they "tightened something also" ...

Then a few weeks ago it snapped again! ... so we got it replaced once more. And now its squeeling again so its gonna go again soon.

So question is, whats causing the fanbelt to continually snap ?

Is the garage my mum takes it to basically slapping on crappy fanbelts, or could there be a bigger problem that maybe this garage isnt picking up on ?

any help will be appreciated ... cheers

Sounds like its either over tightened
or not tightened enough.

There should be some play in it, as in wiggling movement.

Squeeling this time of year could just be damp,
but it does indicate that 1 of your belts is slipping.

Not sure why your having to replace them,
as i think you covered the possibles.

is the power steering pump connected to the fanbelt? maybe this might be the problem as i know of a mates xsara it was.

yea mate its connected to the power steering. i was thinkin there could be a problem with that too. the thing i was thinkin of though is that... technically this guy at the garage we keep taking it to, shouldnt he have picked up on things like this by now ?

Had same problems with my old VW, turned out to be that it was to tight

yea could be ... ill have to just get it all checked properly, thank for answers

take it back o and get them to look into it, it will be under warranty no? its either too tight or not tight enough,or one of the pulleys/tensioners/or pump is creating resistance and the belt is straining all the time to turn,or maybe its scraping on something under the bonnet,i know on escorts the belt is very close to a plastic mudguard and if that mudguard came loose it'd hit my belt. BTW its called an aux belt,not a fanbelt (fanbelts go on cars with longitudinally mounted engines and drive the engine fan via a clutch,like my BM)

P.S. How long til u pick the celica up?

Yea im takin the car back to the garage on monday.

been a bit of a delay on the celica (not with the car, with sortin out the money) .. but will have it in a week or so.

May also be the aux belt at fault. I remember a few years ago I put an engine in a Saxo and that snapped 2 belts within a short period of time - I got it double checked before it went out the second time and we (myself and 2 other mechanics) came to the virdict that it must be the pattern part belt - We got a Genuine Citroen belt and it worked fine. Not too sure why it was like this but I can only assume the material the belt was made of.

What garage do you take it to? Id try somewhere else, and while its there inform them of the previous problem - The 'new' garage will triple check everything then as they will want your custom from then on.

just a word of warning, it may not apply to the belts on cars but the ones in work have a dirrection of rotation, check the belt for an arrow.

the rotation of the belts matter due to the thread pattern tightening when in use.

tell them they better fit a higher quality belt using higher quality mechanics checking the tensioner like professionals. It may be an idea to change to a genuine belt. i know pattern part wishbones for escorts are crap when driven hard on,the bushes just fall out,wheras ford ones last forever.may be a similar situation

ford parts, lasting forever? doubt it. as said above try a genuine vauxhall belt, you may find it solves the problem

To check how 'tight' it has to be, you should only be able to twist it 90 degrees.
The fact that it was squealing either way could mean the alternator hasn't been fitted properly, probably when it was in the garage (when they loosened it). If you put a washer on the wrong side of the bolt, it means it's a few degrees out and one side of the belt is under more stress than the other.