Change your Darn Fan Belt Regularly or Suffer Like Me!

[DRACO A5OG]

Well while I was working on the fuel system, I noticed bits of rubber in the engine bay, did think much of it until I was going to work tonight.

On the freeway she was running great

Then off the freeway and past the 2nd intersection, I hear a slight "boom", what I thought was just the dip in the road then "ALT" light came on

Damn it, I thought to myself, "self did you mess up the alt service?"

Drove to appointment, did my showing then checked the battery terminals to insure they were tight.

Took a gamble and jumped into the car and started my drive home, all the while monitoring the volt meter for voltage and turning off head beams at stop lights.

Then I notice my temp gauge was rising above normal evening temps WTD?

Then I had a "ah ha" momment, "FAN BELT" it aint cooling the car. So I jumped on the Freeway, thinking "self" air cool = speed = maintain temps. It was at 9:00 and stayed there until I hit traffic then it started rise to 10:00. OKAY that's it, pulled over and lifted the engine bay to discover both belts were off

PSA: Noobs, always keep your tool kit and spare fan belt in your car, always!

5 minutes later, spare on, drove home, alt light off, volt meter stated charging



Moral of the story, errand rubber pieces, check around it is probably your fan belt letting you to change it.

I suffered a bit of scratch under the lid from the metal cords hit the paint :-(

[maui44]

Jim,

Glad it was just the belt. I had the following issue with a belt also.

I just replaced my fan belt a few weeks ago. Today I was doing some work on the car and noticed some fine black material (turned out to be rubber) on the fan housing. Took my finger and pushed in on the fan belt and it was loose.

The belt had stretched out and was spinning on the pulley. Not a good thing.

Took out an inside spacer and tightened the fan belt.

Moral of the story, when you place a new fan belt, do not forget to check it see if it has stretched out some. Most of the time it will and you have to re-adjust for it.

[steely]

Oh man Jim - glad it wasn't worse.

Thanks for the warning / reality check.

[zippy_gg]

Jim, thank you for taking the time to stop and take a picture for us!
Anyway, glad it wasn't anything serious.

[winders]

You had the alternator light on and continued to drive the car without looking in the engine compartment?

Then, knowing it was the fan belt you drove it anyway?

The oil temp gauge does nothing to tell you how hot the heads got with no air flow from the fan. How long did you drive with the Alt light on?

Scott

[fasterlaster]

I agree with Scott on this. No cooling fan turning is a bad thing for air cooled engines. You may be completely fine depending on the duration of the drive, and if it's running fine you may have dodged a bullet. Everyone please remember with any air cooler if the Alt light comes on, get off the road on a safe place and check the cooling fan. You can drive some distance with a faulty alternator, but no cooling is no bueno.

[JINKATIN]

That is crazy bro, glad all is well and nothing major happened.

[DRACO A5OG]

Yeah, you right Scott, I got hit by an Idiot stick But I was in a bad side of the hood and wanted my baby and me arse out of there quick. Didn't have my 45 on me tonight

10 minute drive on the freeway until I hit rush hour traffic, 5 minutes on the side of the road to install the fan belt, then surface streets home.

Forgot to mention I also ran the heater on full, it also help maintain temps.

[skinnerd]

My old 73 E when I bought it had a faulty alternator such that the red light always stayed on....so I got used to driving the car with the light on for a couple of years.
Maybe you can guess where this is headed?

Then I converted the car into an RS replica complete with a newly rebuilt 2.7 MFI RS spec motor.
At the track recently after all the work was finished, I saw the red light was on as it had been in the past and thought nothing more about it.
A couple laps later my oil temps headed North!
Pulled the car into the pits to have a quick look.
Upon opening the rear deck lid, the motor was just literally smoking and and hissing.

The fan belt was shreaded...
At that point I then remembered that during the rebuild, the alternator had been replaced with a new one...with the warning light CORRECTLY working.
Put a new belt on at the spot, and after letting the engine cool down, tried restarting it.
My heart sank as I heard how the engine sounded....like rubbish.
I had obviously overheated the cylinders so much they had become distorted.
So much for that $10k rebuild back in the 80's.
Had to have the engine taken down again with many damaged parts replaced.

That fan moves so much air...you probably don't realize it.
Without it, the engine won't last long....believe me.

You should never drive an aircooled car without the fan belt for 10 feet if you ask me.
Hopefully you didn't damage your engine.
You really dodged a big ass bullet if you didn't.
Cheers

[rinverso]

kinda nice to know even a guy with 7000 posts can make a mistake. i don't feel so bad now. thanks for sharing. one more thing to keep an eye on.

[DRACO A5OG]

Wow, no worries, I kept the RPMs low and the heater on to help suck out the heat. I realize you can't depend on our gauges but I made sure it never went over 10:00 on the temp gauge.

Upon start up she sounded normal and drove perfectly.

If it was day time I would have certainly had it towed.

Lesson learned and I agree 200% if fan breaks DO NOT DRIVE IT!

Originally Posted by skinnerd

My old 73 E when I bought it had a faulty alternator such that the red light always stayed on....so I got used to driving the car with the light on for a couple of years.
Maybe you can guess where this is headed?

Then I converted the car into an RS replica complete with a newly rebuilt 2.7 MFI RS spec motor.
At the track recently after all the work was finished, I saw the red light was on as it had been in the past and thought nothing more about it.
A couple laps later my oil temps headed North!
Pulled the car into the pits to have a quick look.
Upon opening the rear deck lid, the motor was just literally smoking and and hissing.

The fan belt was shreaded...
At that point I then remembered that during the rebuild, the alternator had been replaced with a new one...with the warning light CORRECTLY working.
Put a new belt on at the spot, and after letting the engine cool down, tried restarting it.
My heart sank as I heard how the engine sounded....like rubbish.
I had obviously overheated the cylinders so much they had become distorted.
So much for that $10k rebuild back in the 80's.
Had to have the engine taken down again with many damaged parts replaced.

That fan moves so much air...you probably don't realize it.
Without it, the engine won't last long....believe me.

You should never drive an aircooled car without the fan belt for 10 feet if you ask me.
Hopefully you didn't damage your engine.
You really dodged a big ass bullet if you didn't.
Cheers

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by rinverso

kinda nice to know even a guy with 7000 posts can make a mistake. i don't feel so bad now. thanks for sharing. one more thing to keep an eye on.

Yeap, I make mistakes all the time, part of being human I guess but always learning

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by JINKATIN

That is crazy bro, glad all is well and nothing major happened.

Hey Hey CA, Welcome Home Brother

[fasterlaster]

I wonder how many fan belt orders Wayne will get this next week? I know if I had not just had some on my last order I would have added it to my next list thanks to Draco's post.

[Joe Bob]

I have a spare in my kit.....

[DRACO A5OG]

LOL, maybe Kelso had the screw driver fly into his jugular .

That reminds me of the instant truck tire inflation with wd40 and a lighter.

[Hydrocket]

Does anyone make a kevlar belt for this application?

If not...they should. Might be the last belt you ever need to buy.

[noavgdrvr]

just did mine a few hours ago... it was holding on by a thread

[DRACO A5OG]

Sign me up

[Hydrocket]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

Sign me up

I'll call some manufacturers tomorrow and see what I can find out...