sailboatshaka
New member
I have an 1976 built sailboat with an old Perkins 4108 inboard diesel. I was told by the chap who sold it to me that he rebuilt it shortly before I bought it, and the engine has always started easily and run well. The problem is, that not long after I bought it I noticed that there was a fine coating of black dust on the inside of the engine box, fortunately painted white so easy to notice the dust, on the side where the alternator sits. Closer inspection revealed wear on the alternator drive belt, resulting in very premature drive belt/water pump failure, on two separate occasions, once at sea in an oily calm, and the other just motoring out of the marina, so both times reasonably easily fixable. I've tried several times to realign the alternator with the engine pulleys by eye using washers as spacers, with moderate success, and subsequent wear being slowed down, but still not functioning normally to my non mechanical mind. Does anybody know of a way, that I could align the alternator pulley up with the engine pulleys, so that it would function as it should normally, say from one servicing to the next, and perhaps more crucially, why would the alternator pulley be out of alignment in the first place, when it appears to be mounted on the original engine alternator mounting lugs ?