andyfreelandy

andyfreelandy

Well-Known Member
I know the roads are bad in Devon, but today, driving along happily. Belt squeek started and a grinding and graunching noise.

Pulled over and noted alternator pulley on an angle and rubbing on chassis!!

20 miles from home so popped the belt off and limped home, keeping an eye on the temperature. Made it home, temp gauge still on halfway but just starting to boil when I got home !

Had a look, rear alternator bolt sheared, one front alternator bolt sheared and aluminium bracket broken so alternator hanging loose.

Have a spare bracket to fit and also managed to unscrew sheared bolt as it protruded out the back by 3mm and got mole grips on it. How lucky was that! That hole looks to be a casting on the engine block.

LR spares only order in bolts in packs of 10 and won't sell me one as "no demand for such an old vehicle sir"!! Wot a load of twot.

Now have packs of 10 on order. The rear bolt is about 12mm reduced to about 8mm thread. It is at this reduction that it has failed which is no surprise.

Anyone else had this, didn't see this one coming today !! All is well in the end.....
 
I've heard of this on one other occasion. I'm curious as to what caused it to come loose. It's possible that the alternator has an issue which is causing internal vibration. Or maybe it just wasn't tightened up correctly after it was replaced, if it's a replacement.
 
Intrigued by tha failure. One small rear broken bolt has rusted at end and so broke some while ago. The larger bolt has what looks like a manufacture flaw and has a fracture over half of the diameter with the other half looking plated and so probably defective from new. The final fracture was due to the bracket not being able to take the weight and tension on the belt.

Renewing all bolts and bracket. Bit of a surprise this one !!

Alternator was fitted with replacement engine about 4 or 5 years ago.
 
Anyone good at analysing broken bolts!?!? This is the bit left in the thread, is it stress fracture by overtightening perhaps or manufacturing defect flaw ?!?!? 20230910_180549.jpg
 
Obvs the previous owner !! :)

Seriously, you don't know the stress history of your nuts and bolts !!
 
Last edited:
andyfreelandy said:
Obvs the previous owner !! :)

Seriously, you don't know the stress history of your nuts and bolts !!
Click to expand...
Unfortunately not.
Garage fitters seldom use torque wrenches to tighten fixings, often using air guns, which always over tighten nuts and bolts.
Bolt breakage can be avoided if proper tools are used, but they seldom are.
 
Replacement bracket, all new bolts, torqued and new belt.
Back on the road.
A noticable amount of brown dry dust deposits on the coolant rail around the sump. Can't see where it is from?!?!
 
andyfreelandy said:
Replacement bracket, all new bolts, torqued and new belt.
Back on the road.
A noticable amount of brown dry dust deposits on the coolant rail around the sump. Can't see where it is from?!?!
Click to expand...
I know this is an old post but any pictures of the bracket?

I've a 2005 landrover freelander 1 td4 bmw engine and the bottom bolt on the alternator has snapped from where it bolts into not the bit on the alternator the bit the bolt goes into. If I'm asking sense. Is this a bracket attached to engine or is it all part of the engine?

Will the alternator be OK with top bolt and the bolt at the back? Or will I need all 3 bolts fitted and if so how do I fix this
 
Bracket is seperate from engine. It bolts to the block.

All bolts are needed or it will fail I am afraid !! The belt is tight and any lack of support causes stress elsewhere.
 
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