BX belt adjustments; stopping the squeals.

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alan s
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BX belt adjustments; stopping the squeals.

Post by alan s »

If you've ever replaced an accessory belt on a BX with air/con, you'd know the high pitched squealing that usually follows this, caused by belt slip.
It is particularly common on 16Vs and it usually ends with someone declaring it's a faulty belt or something else has gone amiss. Here's the procedure that should sort it out.
Slacken the top bolt on the alternator. It takes a 21mm socket. Usually it can't be fitted due to lack of space to fit a ratchet or any kind of means to turn it. Easy fixed; buy a cheap Chinese one (a 22mm octagonal will fit at a pinch) and drill a hole through it up at the end that the ratchet normally fits into & turn using a Tommy bar or anything that will fit in the hole you've drilled. Slacken any other retaining/adjusting bolts and allow the belt to go slack. Loosen the jockey wheel and allow it to return to its <b>minimum adjustment</b> position.
Use a large screwdriver or lever to put tension on the belt and tighten all bolts associated with the alternator. Check for tension.
Take an 8mm square steel rod as used to adjust the cambelt tension and under the front guard, fit this to the adjustment hole in the jockey wheel. Turn in a clockwise direction and then retighten the nut on the jockey wheel.
This allows the jockey wheel to then pull the belt around into such a manner that it gives it greater area of the crank and air/con pulleys to run on and as a result of better tension and larger purchase area, stops the squealing.
If you have a problem with the BX sounding like a plague of locusts on start up, give this a go...........you'll live happily ever after.
Alan S
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