Soooo... Back in January I took my green car down to Burbank for a few days... Ran flawlessly.... Hadn't really touched it since other than a few around town drives...
Been busy working on projects & some changes to the red car plus getting a friends car going .... Add a few work related trips.. Just keeping busy...
So prior to Spring Fling I cleaned up the green car, checked the fluids & tires & figured I was ready to go....
Well, From Modesto to the Grapevine went pretty smoothly... Around Magic Mountain I noticed a little belt squeal, not bad but not normal... I didn't expect much of a problem so I felt I'd keep an eye on things & get that last 30 miles done before worrying about it..
Water temp was staying low but battery voltage was intermittently dropping, sometimes 14.4 sometimes 12.5.... Never dropped below 12.2 so nothing to concerning....
Made it past the 405 split & started getting more belt noise.... Temp was good.. Less than 7 miles to go...
Took the Sherman Way off ramp & now the voltage is down to 12.2 & the belt noise is constant... Temp is fine, less than a mile to the hotel.... Made it to the Airtel, popped the hood & found one belt is shredded & the other is pretty rough but still hanging...
Then I noticed something looked odd about the alternator.... The pulley wasn't straight... Turns out the front bearing let go... Never made a sound, no growling, no pops or snaps... Nothing, just a little belt noise... Pulled the alternator off & hit Autozone... Brought back an alternator but they didn't have a belt.... Reused the single old belt.... Fired up the car & it was charging & we were late for dinner... So, lets hit the road.... Got dinner & got back to the Airtel.... Next morning is the Malibu Cruise... Got to the park & when it was time to go we hit the freeway for the first time since this had begun... Well... The belt slips at anything over 40 MPH... You could watch the charge voltage fall... But even when slipping it mostly stayed at 12.7 or above so if it didn't get worse with luck I'd be okay... Kept an eye on things & enjoyed the drive.... Got to the first real stop at the Rock Store & tried tightening the belt... Might have gotten a quarter inch of adjustment (probably less), finished up the cruise which was awesome (Thanks to the CPW crew for doing that) We broke away from the group, had lunch at Christy's.... And headed back toward the Airtel... On the way back we hit a few auto parts stores & scored a set of house brand belts... Got to the hotel & swapped them out.... Charging was fixed, felt I could now use the A/C if I wanted to so life is good....
Been busy working on projects & some changes to the red car plus getting a friends car going .... Add a few work related trips.. Just keeping busy...
So prior to Spring Fling I cleaned up the green car, checked the fluids & tires & figured I was ready to go....
Well, From Modesto to the Grapevine went pretty smoothly... Around Magic Mountain I noticed a little belt squeal, not bad but not normal... I didn't expect much of a problem so I felt I'd keep an eye on things & get that last 30 miles done before worrying about it..
Water temp was staying low but battery voltage was intermittently dropping, sometimes 14.4 sometimes 12.5.... Never dropped below 12.2 so nothing to concerning....
Made it past the 405 split & started getting more belt noise.... Temp was good.. Less than 7 miles to go...
Took the Sherman Way off ramp & now the voltage is down to 12.2 & the belt noise is constant... Temp is fine, less than a mile to the hotel.... Made it to the Airtel, popped the hood & found one belt is shredded & the other is pretty rough but still hanging...
Then I noticed something looked odd about the alternator.... The pulley wasn't straight... Turns out the front bearing let go... Never made a sound, no growling, no pops or snaps... Nothing, just a little belt noise... Pulled the alternator off & hit Autozone... Brought back an alternator but they didn't have a belt.... Reused the single old belt.... Fired up the car & it was charging & we were late for dinner... So, lets hit the road.... Got dinner & got back to the Airtel.... Next morning is the Malibu Cruise... Got to the park & when it was time to go we hit the freeway for the first time since this had begun... Well... The belt slips at anything over 40 MPH... You could watch the charge voltage fall... But even when slipping it mostly stayed at 12.7 or above so if it didn't get worse with luck I'd be okay... Kept an eye on things & enjoyed the drive.... Got to the first real stop at the Rock Store & tried tightening the belt... Might have gotten a quarter inch of adjustment (probably less), finished up the cruise which was awesome (Thanks to the CPW crew for doing that) We broke away from the group, had lunch at Christy's.... And headed back toward the Airtel... On the way back we hit a few auto parts stores & scored a set of house brand belts... Got to the hotel & swapped them out.... Charging was fixed, felt I could now use the A/C if I wanted to so life is good....
