Volvo alternator problems

[Close hauled]

The bottom bolt holding the alternator onto my Volvo 2040B sheared off leaving me in a bit of a pickle as I had no drive to the water pump either. Got it fixed by removing the engine foot and drilling out remaining part of bolt. There was evidence that this might have happened before. Also I am finding it hard to keep the alternator belt tight and am getting quite a bit of black dust.

Anyone else experienced these problems and any suggestions as to how to fix them?

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[alldownwind]

Last time I had a belt producing dust, it was a non-Volvo belt and turned out to be half a millimetre wider than the spec. Fitted the (expensive) real thing and problem disappeared.

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[Close hauled]

The belt is a genune Volvo part I think - got it from Volspec

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[silverseal]

If you are getting dust then the belt is not aligned with one of the pulleys. Put a straight edge across both pulleys. If there is a misalignment, you will have to pack the alternator with shims to get the two pulleys plumb. Perhaps the sheared bolt is a result of this mis alignment?

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[Close hauled]

THanks - I'll check this weekend

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[pampas]

A better straight edge, is to take a bar of steel that just sits in the "V" of the pulley,bend a 90 degree on end, sit in one "V", drop into the other. This method gives a very accurate indication without any complicated measuring

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[john_morris_uk]

We have had two alternator bolts shear on our Volvo 2040. The first time it happened I went and bought some stud removers, drilled a hole in the broken bit and removed it. I bought a high tensile steel bolt specially and thought that it was one of those things.

The second time it happened was off the Quiberon Peninsular three weeks ago just as we said - 'it was about here we had engine failure last year.' Had to do the same trick again although was at sea in benign conditions and at least I had the drill and the stud removers on board. This time I had to make do and put a stainless steel length of studding in with a nut on it to get it going again.

Once we were in port, I asked in the Volvo dealers (in La Trinite). They said that they were special bolts (although my French is not good enough to discuss the ins and outs of the metallurgy!!) and gave me a new one FOC.

More importantly, whilst I was in their workshop, I did notice that the brand new Volvo 2040 that they had has a modified bracket. Instead of the single bolt through to the block of metal welded onto the engine mount, there is another 'arm' welded on to come to support the front of the bolt as well. This is obviously a Volvo mod of the earlier engines.

I wonder how old your engine is? Ours is from 1997 but with only about 400 hours on the clock.

Result of all this is that I have decided that I will try and remove the engine mounting leg during this winter and modify it to match the new design.

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[Close hauled]

I wouldn't like to have to do that on my boat - a 1996 Prout37 cat. Access to the front engine mount is tight and requires some gymnastics!

I went along to the local Volvo dealer - Marine Engineering in Looe - and they told me that although there is 'no problem' with the alternator mount for the 2040, Volvo have brought out a mod; it must be the the one that you saw. Coat is about 120 pounds. I am not an engineer but it looks as if there is a very high shearing stress on that bolt and it is certainley a weak link in the system.

I am going to change the mount this winter.

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