Lost my alternator belt!

[crookedmouth123]

I have a 1.9 TD engine in my van, last night i lost my alternator belt whilst driving along, does anybody know what size belt i should get? Thank you's in advance!!

[MGP]

There are many ways of doing the auxiliary belt when fitting the aaz.
Best bet is to post some pictures of your pully set up.

[lefty67]

The alternator belt on my aaz is 910 x 10mm. But as mgp says, there can be quite a bit of difference

[crookedmouth123]

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/4061/RCBtKo.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Don't know if this is any help to you?!, looking at it now it looks like it's pretty polished, might be time to get a new one.
I have a 110ah leisure battery in the van now, should i get get a high powered alternator to charge it more efficiently? any recommendations would be great!

[ghost123uk]

I have a 110ah leisure battery in the van now, should i get get a high powered alternator to charge it more efficiently?

If you did, it wouldn't charge the leisure battery any better or faster. Unless you have a very weedy alternator, and I am guessing you will have a 90 Amp one on a 1.9TD, you don't need to upgrade it.

[lefty67]

I don't know if this would work but loosen off the alternator and measure from the centre of the alternator to the centre of the pulley. I will do the same with mine later when I get in. If its same distance then might need a 910mm.

[ghost123uk]

I have a 110ah leisure battery in the van now, should i get get a high powered alternator to charge it more efficiently?

If you did, it wouldn't charge the leisure battery any better or faster. Unless you have a very weedy alternator, and I am guessing you will have a 90 Amp one on a 1.9TD, you don't need to upgrade it.

Apparently this engine is fitted with a 70 Amp alternator.

It should be noted that Amps has little to do with charging a Leisure battery, it is the Volts one should be reading. If 2 alternators both have exactly the same output voltage, say exactly 14 Volts, then it does not matter whether one of them is only 45Amps and the other 200Amps, they will both charge the battery exactly the same (assuming it's not stone cold dead, ie zero volts and therefore knackered). It's all to do with the "P.D." = Voltage difference between a partly flat battery, and an alternator's output, say battery at 11.6 Volts and Alternator at 14.2 Volts = a current (Amps) will flow but get less and less as the 2 voltages "even up" (as the battery charges up).

The Amp rating of an alternator is governed only by what the worst case scenario is re using equipment on the van. So if you had all your lights on, plus windscreen wipers, plus heater blower, plus stereo on dead loud, etc etc, you would add all that up and make sure it does not come to a higher Amperage than your Alternator. Now unless you have a whole load of spot lights etc (remember some hairy Syncros do) then you are very unlikey to get anywhere near the 70 Amps that you current alternator is capable of. By the way, worth noting that except for the first 60 seconds or so, your leisure battery (assuming not knackered) will never pull more than around 8 Amps, but note, in that first minute or so, it can pull a heck of a lot more, which is why split charge relays and cables (and fuses) are usually in the 40 Amp range.

So, you only need a big alternator if you have a lot of extra electrical devices that draw lots of current (ie, spot lamps etc, but not phone or laptop chargers etc )

PS = measure the voltage on your leisure battery whilst the engine is running and after at least a 10 minute drive, it should be a bare minimum of 13.6 Volts, 14.2 Volts is considered best.