Hi,
not something I've read often.., so here goes:,
saw a nice Black '08 GP on my way home - in Didcot,

saw something hanging under engine bay,
thought I'd follow and let them know,
Turns out Vincent had dash lights on - and no PAS..,

belt was a Gates, and the back face was relatively unworn,
but belt was a clean break,is this how they tend to go..??,

even with a seized bearing I would've expected some shredding..??

is there a sprung tensioner ( petrol engine) of is it a "slacken alternator" job?

Charlie

varesecrazy said:

Turns out Vincent had dash lights on - and no PAS..,

belt was a Gates, and the back face was relatively unworn,
but belt was a clean break,is this how they tend to go..??,

even with a seized bearing I would've expected some shredding..??

is there a sprung tensioner ( petrol engine) of is it a "slacken alternator" job?

Charlie

Click to expand...

First, Well done for helping
A clean break of an Aux belt can be caused by a stone being kicked up and caught between belt and pulley. It does not have to be very big stone.
Don't know how it's tensioned on a Punto. I'd expect a alternator movement, but some cars (Wifes Focus) have moved to a "stretch" belt that is fitted with a special tool. These are the flat multi-groove type.

Robert G8RPI.

On models with air condition there is an auto-tensioner. 1 minute job max to replace the belt.

On models without A/C it's a "slacken alternator" job. No belt stretching etc.

From a visit to Gates (belt manufacturers) many years ago, the belts are made on a large diameter drum, one for each size of belt, and quite wide. The layers of internal webbing are laid around the drum and of course there is a joint for each layer. Rarely, but can happen, some or all of the joints are close together, and this can cause a relatively young belt to break cleanly. If less than a few months old, might be worth a warranty claim.

After the fibres are laid, the whole thing gets the rubber moulded on. The finished article is then sliced into the required widths to give us the number of ribs we need, hence the fibres being visible on the edges.