www.iFourWinns.com

So I broke my second alternator belt of the season. The alternator turns freely, the parts shop said I was maybe putting it on too tight? I think the belt I got from O-reillys was too tall and just slipped off the pulley. So I got a different brand from them and we'll see how it goes.

When it broke it seemed to disintegrate, burnt belt rubber in bilge, any good way to clean it?

TIA,

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

Hey Chris,

How do the pulley's alignment look?
You may need to space a bolt out slightly if it's not aligned...

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2011 Four Winns H180 SS.
Aussie built Mustang 2800.
SOLD - 1997 Four Winns Horizon RS

You can line up a straight edge like a level across the pulleys to check the alignment. Also, if the harmonic balancer is getting worn then the crank pulley will be out of alignment with the alt pulley. You can see it wobble and the rubber between the balancer and the pulley start to come out. I had to replace this on our '98 Jeep a few years ago. My '88 4.3 still has the OE one...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Thanks, never considered this. Ill have to check next time I am at the boat.

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

Wish I would have remembered to check the alignment....broke another belt. Same thing happened. I fired in the driveway, looked at the belt no noise and all seems well. Put her in the water and go for about 20 mins at 3500 rpm and park at the beach 14 volts the whole way. At the end of the day I reverse her off the beach and I hear the belt squeal...a few minutes later...the volt meter is reading 10 volts...get back to the dock and the belt is broke? WTH?

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

Chris, is there a chance that you got a lesser quality belt? Some belts are made with a higher strength rating to handle heavier loads than others. I'm not sure if your boat's alternator and pulley sizes are equal to a standard 5.8 Ford in a car or not. There is a possibility that a standard belt of that size, or a belt for a 5.8 Mustang, may not be adequate. Can you find the Volvo belt for that installation? You can usually run a good belt pretty tight without issues. If it is a little loose it is more prone to slip and squeal. Check the condition of the pulleys to see if something is chewing the belt up. Check the alignment. Also, re-check the tension of a newly installed belt after a little running time. Belts can "stretch" or wear in after a bit and may be looser after a few hours than when first installed. This may allow additional accelerated wear. If you travel somewhere, park, and use the house battery for a while, when you start the engine and get the engine rpm up above a fast idle speed the alternator will be operating at maximum output for a while to recharge the house battery. I'd recommend carrying a spare belt if you have had some issues just in case you are in the middle of nowhere. Just some thoughts to consider.

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Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

Yep I'm thinkin either it's not the right belt and doesn't fit the pulleys right and that puts too much stress on one part of the belt....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I started having the same problem this summer out of the blue. I was using OEM belts and they would randomly start breaking. Some research on a couple other forums showed that this is a somewhat common (and mysterious) problem with our vintage of Ford/OMC/VP engines. Nobody has had a very good fix, I would think beefing up the belt would be a good start though.

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1996 205 Sundowner
"Comin' in Hot!"

Got another belt from oriellys (7400) 3 year warranty so it was warranty replacement. And called my mechanic to look at it in the am. We'll see what he thinks.

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

Well Mechanic looked at it an saw blistered paint on the front of the Alternator pulley...The other belts are fine and show no blistering on the pulleys. Theory is Alternator is hanging occasionally and burning/breaking belts. Sounds like a reasonable explanation..guess Ill buy an alternator.

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

I replaced my old one with an ARCO marine alternator for a little over $100 or so....Works great and has a much more even charging rate than the old one (which was original to the boat)....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Well I put another belt on it, started it up...ran fine. Just didn't feel like risking it again so I didn't take her on the water. Instead I spent a lot of time trying to get a part number off the alternator. Bent my body into positions that I should have never tried. Still sore this morning. Not Four Winns fault this time, the plate with the info (if there is one?) is hidden back in the backside of the alternator.

In any case I would assume the alternator is OEM, and can found that number on Crowley marine as 3854809 (or 3857561) but they list it as $438.89! I believe I could get at least 3 alternator for that price!

So I googled it and found this for $72.89 on Amazon;

http://www.amazon.com/DB-Electrical-AMN0011-Alternator-Mercruiser/dp/B0081SAXRI/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444670809&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=marine+alternator+3857561+3854809

will that work?

Lou how did you find your Arco one? I am very nervous to get the wrong one. I heard my mechanic say something about it being 1 wire...

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

The Arco was very good. Fit perfect and gives a steady 14.4 volts.

http://www.arcomarine.com/xhtml/60125.pdf

I looked up the cross reference on the Arco site for the part number you posted (3854809)

http://www.arcomarine.com/xhtml/60070.pdf
Here's the one that crosses to the other number (3857561)

They are 2 different Arco numbers so you have to find out for sure which one it is.

I looked up your engine 5.8 FI 1996 on the BRP omc sterndrive parts catalog and the number I got was 3854809....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I wonder if progress is actually happening, or is it just that things are made more unnecessarily complex.

In the 1970s most UK cars had weedy dynamos with an unreliable electromechanical control box. Having one of those cars when I was a student and poor, I decided to fit an alternator from a scrapped late 1970s car. Even then, 2/ 3 wire ones with internal control electronics were widely available ( 1/ 2 charge wires and ignition warning light wire). I fitted a 45A one. Connection to -ve via the alternator body. Why on earth did any external alternator controls show up since then ?

Believe it or not I had a few old school American cars with the old style mechanical regulator and did not have a problem with them. The one I replaced has an electronic internal regulator.
Here's a quirk I learned about in troubleshooting my over charging problem. For some reason OMC had the S (voltage sense) terminal hooked up to the ignition wiring behind the dash. I was getting 15.5 volts. I replaced the old alt and followed the recommendation from Arco which was to disconnect the sense wire and measure the voltsge with the ignition on. There I got 11 volts when the batts were at 12.5. If the voltage was low disconnect that sense wire and tape it up in the harness. Then I made up a jumper wire from the S terminal to the output on the Alt. This gave me 14.2-14.4v. Not sure if Volvo wired theirs the same way.
The cause of the over charging was that the increased resistance in the dash wiring caused tbe S terminal to get a reading that was too low so the alt compensates by over charging. Moral of the story check your batts with a digital volt meter not just the dash gauge.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II