SCW
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- SLC (yuck) UT
Normally when I see a squealing serpentine belt and poor charging I would assume the belt isn't tight enough and call it a day. But....
'92 XJ with 4.0, 118K miles:
I just changed the belt a few days ago and it's been noisy ever since. I have a little bit of rubber on the alternator that is coming from the alternator pulley/belt, peeling off the belt, so I know it's happening at the alternator rather than at one of the other locations. Just in case today while it was idling I tightened the pulley down with the tensioner
So- every now and again, maybe 1/2 the time the alternator works just fine, volt jump up and the squealing stops. Power jumps up as well, all of a sudden I have quite a bit more power no matter what RMP range this happens in. Also, the alternator pulley is now polished to a mirror finish on the groves from the new belt sliding over it. I'm thinking this is probably not just a loose belt but rather a partially seized alternator, but I've never had an alternator seize like that, only slowly die from not producing power.
Is this "common" enough that I should try a new alternator? I don't really want to throw money after this when I'm not sure it's the alternator that's bad. Can't get the belt any tighter though-
'92 XJ with 4.0, 118K miles:
I just changed the belt a few days ago and it's been noisy ever since. I have a little bit of rubber on the alternator that is coming from the alternator pulley/belt, peeling off the belt, so I know it's happening at the alternator rather than at one of the other locations. Just in case today while it was idling I tightened the pulley down with the tensioner
So- every now and again, maybe 1/2 the time the alternator works just fine, volt jump up and the squealing stops. Power jumps up as well, all of a sudden I have quite a bit more power no matter what RMP range this happens in. Also, the alternator pulley is now polished to a mirror finish on the groves from the new belt sliding over it. I'm thinking this is probably not just a loose belt but rather a partially seized alternator, but I've never had an alternator seize like that, only slowly die from not producing power.
Is this "common" enough that I should try a new alternator? I don't really want to throw money after this when I'm not sure it's the alternator that's bad. Can't get the belt any tighter though-