OT new alternator needed or low battery?

I thinks it better than be called elderly, a term I seem to reserve for those who are severely affected by age and probably older than myself !

It was a pleasure driving you.

Ill take you again in 2022.

And just a reminder - it's your turn to pay next time:-)

Well, ribbed belts are sort of multiple vee. I have the impression that they have more rubber and less fibre in the "ribs" than traditional vee belts. I'm pretty sure they will have the same design concept, though, in that the top of the vee will be rounded off so that it does not "bottom" in the grooves (like nuts and bolts). It's the "wedging" geometry that gives them a higher torque capacity than flat belts.

Exactly.

And 80p in toll charges.

Not unusual for the warning light to need a few revs to kick it off. No idea why. But not necessarily a sign of impending doom.

I've seen twin belts with a dynamo. But never an alternator. Is this a car?

Normally in winter I put the battery on charge now and again if I am not using the car.

And that, I think expresses a truth that is quite simply that the single V belt of our youth, on a morris minor, ain't enough to run modern water pumps, alternators and aircon pumps and possibly power steering pumps. You need a wider belt - so its either flat with ribs, or two v belts.

Usually in conjunction with a spring pre-loaded belt tensioner, which should eliminate the issues we used to have with stretched belts slipping.

That pre-tensioner is supposed to eliminate slip, even on icy stuff BUT if the tensioner pivot is sticky it might not...

I'd be inclined to have a look at the state of the belt and tensioners anyway.

On the old Rover, I fitted one of those £14 Lidl chargers beside the spare wheel. And a Buccaneer waterproof mains inlet just below the rear bumper. So can put it on charge quickly and easily - while still locked up. Neighbour on seeing this thought I'd converted it to an EV.

Ford have been fitting pre-stretched belts for years. No adjuster and a special plastic tool is needed to fit a new belt. belts that are removed for any reason should not be re-used

These days the warning light seems to be somewhat delayed, presumably in the software, to avoid raising false hares.

But it has never done this before. And 4 weeks is a pretty standard time for it to stand on the driveway before I use it.

:-)

But it could be converted into an EV and if you want real retro you could convert it to EV and only charge it 3 days a week.

Martin Brown formulated on Sunday :

Possibly just condensation on the belt, causing initial slippage - once burned off, normal charing resumed.

newshound has brought this to us :

They were four or five times the size and longer. They used two, one per driven wheel and from memory - if one broke, you still had drive to one wheel. I remember one breaking and fitting a replacement - it took an entire evening until late.

wonderful typo harry

Depends how long you crank. Twelve seconds = about 1Ah. A whole minute cranking = 5Ah. But you'd never crank an engine for a whole minute. If it didn't start in much less time than that there'd be something wrong with it.

My Tranny starts after ten seconds glow plugs and four seconds cranking. My Merc 709D starts pretty well instantaneously with no glow plugs. My Kubota needs the glow plugs for fifteen seconds but the cranking is about two seconds only. My Volvo petrol engined car starts after maybe two seconds cranking. The battery drain on all is negligible. There are ammeters on all the 24V circuits on the Merc and the engine battery charge drops down to five amps after about three minutes.

Bill

His typing is toast.

Bill

I forgot to mention. Unfortunately I have prior engagements for the whole of 2022. And I often forget my wallet. And the dog's eaten my card. And all my money is in roubles.

Bill