Date:         Fri, 3 Mar 2000 18:30:33 -0500
Reply-To:     Martin Jagersand <vwjag@HAMMER.CS.JHU.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Martin Jagersand <vwjag@HAMMER.CS.JHU.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Diesel V-belt mystery

Juha  Wrote:
> Before we started our winter holiday trip I checked alternator v-belt and
> found it necessary to change.  I went to shop and they sold me two belts
> instead of one existing.  One is for cooling pump and one for alternator.
> Before I have only one much longer belt which accidentally fits to the
> pulleys.
:
: <snip>
:
> I hope the motor has not been overheated this wrong assembly.
> I think my case is unique

Nope, I've seen several dead Diesel vanagons where someone had
cut corners and installed one belt to both Alt and water pump.
One was even done by a "long time trusted mechanic".

Seems like you caught the problem in time. The average John Doe
(Joe Schmoo?) hardly knows what the temp gauge is for and even
less about belt tension. The failures I saw seems to have happened
because of the shallow contact angle on the waterpump. Something
like: Belt starts slipping -> Belts gets warmer and more worn ->
Belts totally looses traction -> Overheat within 10-30 seconds
at full load (Such as when going uphill).

/Martin