Belts on 91 Jetta

[Ducatiric]

Hello All,
I have a 91 turbo diesel with air.
It has had pulleys bodged before and supposedly back to stock now, but it is still eating power steering belts and loosening the alternator belt.
I saw an old thread but I would like to ask a few questions.

Why would the power steering belt go around three pulleys instead of just one belt from the flywheel?

Could the pulleys be in the wrong ratios, making the two belts 'fight' each other?

Is there a scanned source for diagrams etc. on the stock setup? I've looked for manuals but they all either cover the year but not diesel, or vice-versa??
Is there a description of the whole adjustment setup and procedure, and with air, what is the suspect bracket?

Failing all that, can a serpentine belt setup be adapted from a different motor?
Love the car; 200k km, it was my dad's.
Cheers,
Rick

[Mr_Diesel]

There are 2 pulleys (and belts) on the water pump for redundancy. Your power steering belt can fail, but the car is still drivable. The alternator belt (or compressor belt) can fail, but the car is still drivable for a certain amount of time (until battery runs dead). Either way, there's built in redundancy so that if one belt fails that won't disable the car.

The belts don't fight. It's true the two pulleys on the crank pulley are different but the size coincides with the other pulley thus spinning the same speed.... and either way I believe they can move independently of each other due to a weird ass bearing/fluid clutch something or other.

I see you found the other post about the car eating belts. It's due to the horrible design in the pulley (tensioner) and mounting bracket. Only way around it is to delete it. (and therefore the AC)

[eldorado]

eating alt belts is common on a 91 jetta diesel. The power steering belt has an easy life and should not give you trouble. You may have a problem with you power steering pump or a/c compressor if you're using it. The first thng to do is check all the mounting bolts...especially the a/c compressor bolts they have a tendency to loosen or worse break in the bracket. Once all the bolts are accounted for...take the belt and buy a wider belt...some of the Conti belts are too thin and will slip no matter how tight. Especially if the pulleys are original and a little woorn.

Looosen all the bolts that mount the components to the brackets and adjust the belts' tension. Once the tension is adjusted I usually put blue locktite on the compressor bolts. The design of the belt routing stinks but If done right you should be good for 6 months or so.

[twig]

The alternator belt (or compressor belt) can fail, but the car is still drivable for a certain amount of time (until battery runs dead).


is that because his has a turbo? my car's battery has been completely dead and my car has still run (provided it is running when the battery runs out). mine doesn't have turbo.

i know it's off topic, but i was just wondering.

[pcolford]

Hey guys new to the forum.. and new to volks. I just recently bought a 1991 Jetta 1.6L TD with a/c and I cannot seem to get the belts to tighten up..I've tried everything that i know to do, and been searching forums to see if anyone else has had this problem or if i'm just an idiot..but i cannot seem to figure out how to get the belts tight. Any and all opions are greatly apreciated..
cheers,
Patrick

[Mr_Diesel]

is that because his has a turbo? my car's battery has been completely dead and my car has still run (provided it is running when the battery runs out). mine doesn't have turbo.

i know it's off topic, but i was just wondering.

No... TD has no effect on this. The old diesels can run for days or weeks without an alternator... Just depends on your power usage. If you are running the blower motor, headlights, radio, etc... the battery will wear down faster, obviously. My alternator failed one winter and I didn't have the money to fix it... so I disconnected the blower motor and let the forced air on the highway heat the car and then I would charge the battery every couple days. That worked for me for a few weeks until payday came, lol. On a gasoline engine, it would surely discharge in a matter of 30 minutes or so because the spark is generated with battery power.

Hey guys new to the forum.. and new to volks. I just recently bought a 1991 Jetta 1.6L TD with a/c and I cannot seem to get the belts to tighten up..I've tried everything that i know to do, and been searching forums to see if anyone else has had this problem or if i'm just an idiot..but i cannot seem to figure out how to get the belts tight. Any and all opions are greatly apreciated..
cheers,
Patrick

Which belts are slipping? It will only squeak if it's very loose. Try turning each pulley by hand to find which one needs tightening. If your car was like mine it had power steering and AC. This means there will be 3 belts. The really big belt is tightened by the AC compressor. Loosen the bolts and pull the compressor upward to tighten that belt. If the compressor is up all the way you will need a new, smaller belt... cause it may stretched beyond what the compressor can move up. (make sense?). To tighten the power steering belt, you move the power steering pump down. Do that by loosening all the bolts (so the pump can pivot freely, like the ac compressor). The alternator has that wierd, free standing pulley near the radiator. To tighten that pulley you loosen the nut in the middle of the pulley and BACK OUT the bolt paralell to the belt. By backing it out, you are also backing the pulley out. This, in turn, tightens the belt becaues the pulley is moving away from the other pulleys... does that make sense? After you are satisfied with the tension, tighten the nut in the middle of the pulley to fasten it to the bracket.

You shouldnt be able to turn the pulley by hand with a moderate amount of force. This belt system seems to be an afterthought and is really a bad design. It will occasionally give you grief, but once you figure out how it works you can usually keep it in good working order.