Alternator, Battery, Serpentine Belt Fiasco
 

So i was extremely busy a few weeks ago, but had a long trip planned for my '96 disco. I brought said vehicle to my local mechanic (good guys, but not specialists by any means) to have the serpentine belt replaced... just in case. They ordered one in and had me on my way in no time.

A few weeks go by and I'm on another four-hour tour with the vehicle when the tach stops taching. I knew it was bad news, but kept on. An hour or so later, the speedo quits. By the way it's about midnight... and I'm on the interstate. Long story short, I bucked my way into the parking lot of my destination with no lights, no accessories, and no wing... just a prayer.

So, next day, I ordered up an alternator and installed it because I knew the battery was good. No prob. (BTW, fan shroud with clips for removal instead of bolts? GENIUS!) Truck now needs a jump because battery is utterly dead. But, it wouldn't take a charge at all. I had killed it running it so low. It was under warranty, so no biggie. Had that replaced and voila, runs great. But tach still isn’t working. Which leads me to believe that either something’s wrong with the tach (doubtful) or that the alternator’s not throwing off enough juice and I’m just running off of the battery again. What else could it be, really?

So, I get nosing around in there and wonder if the serp belt replacement had anything to do with anything. I find a fine gentleman from this forum has posted a link to a belt routing diagram (THANKS!):

Series I
Series II

And guess what? Yep, they had the belt routed wrong. My guess is that it worked fine for a while until the belt stretched out just enough for it to slip. So, I went in, rerouted the belt correctly, fired it up, and everything was kosher. All this because some genius couldn’t take 30 seconds to make a note of the belt routing BEFORE he took it off. Next time, I’ll change the belt myself.

RE: Alternator, Battery, Serpentine Belt Fiasco
 

They must have found it to hard to get the belt between the water pump
and fan pulleys.

RE: Alternator, Battery, Serpentine Belt Fiasco
 

Sometimes, you get what you pay for:(

RE: Alternator, Battery, Serpentine Belt Fiasco
 

LANDZU, I have the same issue with the alternator not charginh the battery.
You have an idea on how the belt is router. I need to check my connections.
Thank you for your inputs.
Jairocol

RE: Alternator, Battery, Serpentine Belt Fiasco
 

I had the same nightmare, had local yokal machanic tune up the disco before the Disney land trip, got about 100 miles. Cost me $1,200 in parts until a Rover dealer in LA took one look and said "hey your belt is on wrong"