Driving without alternator belt?

[Chupo_cro]

Hi all,

the alternator belt went off and I am not sure if it is safe to drive a Y 20 DTH motor car wihout an alternator belt for an hour without risk of engine overheating?

According to this picture seems as that belt is driving only alternator and air conditioning but I'd like to be sure.

My plan is to disable as many electric devices I can (lights, radio, air conditioning, interior lights, ...) and to try reaching the destination 80 km (50 miles) away.

The battery voltage at the moment is 14.4 V.

Vectra 2.0 DTI 16 V 2002
Motor: Y 20 DTH

[northpole]

The car will not overheat as the waterpump is driven by the timingbelt.

[Chupo_cro]

Thank you very much for your reply!

I hope the power steering pump motor will not drain the battery too early.

I will report back how it went.

[northpole]

Double post

[northpole]

You could just use a make shift pair of tights to make a temporary auxiliary belt. Just make sure the knot is facing the outside on the big pullies. That should give you enough juice to get to where you are going without battery drain.

[Chupo_cro]

I am suspecting something else is broken besides the belt because a few minutes after the burning smell there was metalic sound. It sounded as the sound was from somewhere at the back of the car but it has to do something with the belt. Maybe the belt went off because of broken alternator bearings.

[northpole]

check the aux. tensioner. y20dth is known to break them...

[Chupo_cro]

The car will not overheat as the waterpump is driven by the timingbelt.

It turned out the water pump is driven by the very same belt which is driving the alternator and the engine was overheating :-)) Here is the picture.

Here is how it went:

I took an alternative way to avoid the highway - just in case I had to stop which really happened. After 25 km the temperature went over 95°C and I stopped the engine. After a while when the temperature dropped under 80 I continued driving but when it reached over 95 for the second time I stopped and called a towing service (I arranged it in advance, just in case).

The problem was broken camshaft pulley (the rubber broke and the outer ring was completely separated).

The €100 towing price wasn't too bad taking into account it was sunday (when they tend to charge more) and the distance of 60 km (the alternative way is a bit longer).

The new crankshaft pulley + the belt were €160. If I had to repair the car where I was the expenses would have been way higher.

water_pump.jpg