An oil change never hurts, so I'll get on that this week. Thanks again for everyone's advice and thoughts. Just thankful it broke now rather than in a week's time when we are heading back to see my folks for Christmas (Yes, I'm one of those idiots whose primary mode of transport is a bike, and the van is only used on holiday/trips out of town).
Just noticed that the rear plate on the top pulley is grinding ever so slightly on the alternator. Would it be ok to pop a shim behind the plate to give a the tiny bit of space it needs?
you can, just watch the belt alignment tho... if it's off it can throw the belt off when you rev the engine!!
And at the beginning of the story I expect Halfords had the right belt if you matched the length rather than asked the muppet behind the counter to look a VW T2 up on his computer.....
I probably spent 1/2 hour or so digging through their belts, none where any good. My local motor shop had a close fit to get me home though.
could try putting an "engineers edge" (metal ruler , would prob do)across both pulleys and see if it looks/feels right ?>flush =good >gap? =not so good.
Yes I've got the trusty ol' Haynes. Didn't see anything in there about adjustment with shims behind pulley, hence why I asked. Just popped out to have a look, it seems to be inline with the bottom pulley. Interestingly it only seems to catch at one particular point, if the shaft was bent I'd probably expect it to catch all the way round. I'll get the pulley out this week and pop it on a flat surface to so if it's bent. Might give pop over to Kombi Klassics to get their guys to have a gander.
Hi James, If the shaft is bent then touching in one place, its a sure sign! Or the pully is not sitting on the shaft squarely. Take it down to your local aircooled shop is the way to go, keep us in the loop please. Tony
Ok, curiosity got the better of me. I took both pulleys off. In the centre of the alternator the metal has a circular pit from where the pulley has ground against it; this means that the pulley is sitting further back than it should. balls.
Sounds like the alternator bearings are knackered. Can you move the shaft axially....in and out? Better get down to Kombi Classics pronto if you are planning to go away for Christmas!! Tony
