Super-Russ-Man and Secret Agent S to the Rescue!

[Muad_dib77]

Mornin' All.

I'd like to thank Russman and Agent S for all their help in yesterdays night mare case of being up the creek without a paddle..Or in this case..Blanch with no Aux belts!

Short story long; I was going to DTAS ot get my Track rod ends & front pads replaced. All was going well untill suddenly there was a...


"BANG, TatatatatatFlapflapflap!!!"

from under the bonnet - and my battery light came on..Checked the Volt meter..10v..Erhm..not good..

Pulled over stuck head under bonnet - yup...Alternator belt was missing and the "Inner" belt was half gone.

I was just around the corner from DTAS so I finished the journey.

I explained to Rob what had happend but he didn't really know where I could get belts - especially not on a Saturday, his best bet was Halfords. Needles to say I was willing to try anything so I thought what the hell I'll take a taxi down there. I had however planned on giving RussMan a call to meet up later during the day to accept the ownership transfer of 2 stunning FTO-Ireland Polo-shirts so I figured I'd give him a call to let him know that this was unlikely to happen.
AS it transpired Russman was able to hook me up big style. He and Agent S completly changed the schedule to not only track down a set of belts, but also deliver them in Person halfway across Dublin.

I got to hang out with Toby, Agent S, Russman and the mystery friend with the Mseries Beemer in the DTAS car park for a while.

I'm forever grateful to you guys - I really saved my day/week (cause it would have taken me a LONG time to get belts, not having a car to drive and all)

DTAS fitted the belts for me, no problem - eventhough yer man said "Right they're on, they're not gonna come off - but as this is work we don't normally do I can't offer you a warrenty.."

To hull with that..I've got new belts, Brakes, Trackrod end and 2 Polo Tees.

Insane day - only classed as spent PuurFectly because of this forum.

I think we should introduce the following changes..

1. Russman and Agent S' nicks should be changed to

Super-Russ-Man & Secret Agent S

2. They should no longer be allowed to wear other clothes than blue fullbody suits with red underpants on the outside & and the obligaty cape.

3. They should be taught to fly


Lads.. seriously..thanks a bunch! I really appreciate it!

[CJ]

Glad you got it sorted Muad, big up to the pair from Stepaside for coming to the rescue, its heartening to know that there are folks out there willing to go the extra mile to help out a fellow owner in distress

CJ

[Myfeckin FTO]

Well done to Rusty and Sarah.
Personally think it was probably our own FTO Ireland bred super baby that put them up to it.

[RussMan]

Ha Ha

Yeh he did have some involvement!!!

Glad you got back on the road man... hope the belts all fitted well
Russ

[Muad_dib77]

Lads - you're not going to believe this..

Driving into my new job this morning... 1st day..
belts flew off!!

I now have my car sitting in a little old ladies driveway (Random house down the road from where I live..)

Thankfully I was able to get a lift in..

..now to find a garage in the area who'll stick the belts back on for me, they don't appear damamged at all, they juts flew off..my guess is that they've expanded slightly, and I was due to get them re-tensioned this week.

Bad-luck eh....

[CJ]

Bad-luck eh....

Bad luck indeed

CJ

[Myfeckin FTO]

... belts flew off!! ..... Bad-luck eh....

What - both PS/aircon belt AND Alt belt came off together

Did you check the tension in the belts after they were fitted? You should only be able to give them about a 1/4 turn. Have you ever replaced the tensioners??

TBH - Sounds like they weren't fitted right in the first place esp if both came off together.

BTW - My car is running noticeable better without the 25-30kgs of aircon and associated cr@p removed and with the shortened belt in place that takes the AC/PS tensioner out of the mix.

[Muad_dib77]

Aye both came off at the same time.

After getting them fitted initially I was asked to come back and the them re-tensioned after two weeks - I figured this was normal procedure as I've heard of it before?

I have no doubt they were too slack - especially since I could see on the volt-meter that the alt belt was slipping..

I suspect though that the real culprit is the PSAC belt cause if this was to jump off it would generally give the ALT belt a good whack..

None of the belts seemingly have any damage, they literally just flew off..

Good job I wasn't too far from home and have the larger battery under the bonnet..made it back alright..must say though that I do like the powersteering..

the FTO turns into a bit of a heavy turner without it ..
(nice workout though)

Trying to find a place in drogheda that'll fit them but I haven't got much luck - anybody on here that knows a good place..

Oh and no I didn't replace the tensioner, just the belts..

[Muad_dib77]

Quick update on this..

refitted the ALT belt last night, just so I could drive to work today..
was easy enough - took all of 10mins..

It was definately not fitted right before, tensioner was way way waaay too low..

Also looking at the setting for the PS-AC belt tensioner looks to be in a v.loose position. Will refit both belts over the weekend.. Can't believe I didn't just do it myself in the first place - super easy.. just takes a bit of fiddling - a blunt intrument and a 14mm

[CJ]

Can't believe I didn't just do it myself in the first place - super easy.. just takes a bit of fiddling - a blunt intrument and a 14mm

Just shows what you can do yourself when you're under pressure!

CJ

[Myfeckin FTO]

..........just takes a bit of fiddling - a blunt intrument and a 14mm

Just shows what you can do yourself when you're under pressure!

CJ

Jeez - you're some man for one man!
Put that "blunt instrument" away for now! fnarr fnarr

[Muad_dib77]

lol Aye.. I'll pack it away for now..did you know that this forum still works when you're pissed..

omg..

[Myfeckin FTO]

..did you know that this forum still works when you're pissed....

Yeah - I've found that out to my cost a couple of times (inc above 1146pm post) - I think we need some kind of breathalyser hooked up to the USB port that won't allow us to post when over the limit!

[Muad_dib77]

lol - well atleast we're not being more inappropriate than we normally are..

oh hey..

I'm never paying anybody to change no belt (bar timing belt) on my car again. Jesus - that stuff is easypeasy..

Took me all of 20 minutes to remove the Altbelt - install PS/AC belt & reinstall the Altbelt..

Super easy.. I used the guide from the FTODiy page (see links section for that link and more).. There is one slight discrepancy in the diagram..but it's not a problem.. (depicts one belt rather than two..)

Use the tensioners right and you wont even break a sweat doing this job..

Hot-damn!