Subject: 1999 Mazda Protege alternator belt problems
John asks: My daughter’s Mazda Protege has eaten 3 alternator belts in the last 6 months. The belt would start squeaking about 15 seconds after the car starts and then sometimes the squeak would go away for a while. Then out of nowhere it would squeak real loud and break the belt.
I tried varying the belt tensions from moderately tight to very tight but nothing is working. Recently the belt broke again so I changed the alternator and the belt and it didn’t squeak for a while but it eventually started squeaking and broke the belt again. Today I put a new belt on it and it started squeaking again and so I unplugged the connector from the alternator and the squeaking stopped.
The pulley alignment is good and the water pump is fairly new. It seems to me that the alternator is drawing a heavy load and causing the belt to slip. Any suggestions?
John, thank you for the great detailed information, this really helps.
As you well know, that is a lot of belts to replace when most last for many years. It seems that the load is very excessive on the alternator, you nailed it. Now to find the troublesome object.
Take a look at the battery cables and the battery condition. Maybe a dirty connection is not allowing the power to flow properly.
I am sure you replaced the alternator with the proper ampere rating. Is the alternator pulley the correct diameter? If so then maybe replace it with one of a larger diameter, although then a new belt is in order, a bit longer…if you can even find one that is larger.
The best thing to do would be to find the reason for the heavy draw of power.
Good luck…
Dave
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