Pajero Io - Alternator Belt Cuts Off The Engine

[Y3K]

Hi All,

This is something happened to me recently and I thought this might be useful for others as well to simply solving sudden engine cut-offs or misses that stops the engine and to get an actual understanding of the issue.

My alternator belt was giving a shrieking sound here and there and since it was newly replaced at U***O, I just asked them to have a look. They identified the issue as the belt being too loosed and tightened it.

Once the engine was re-started, it started to cut the engine off! As soon as the foot was taken off from the accelerator it stalled.

The first thing they did was to connect the diagnostics, and run through the engine under the assumption that the fuel pressure was low.

But, since the vehicle was running so smoothly without any issues from the morning, I just made an inquiry related to the alternator belt tightening, which turned out to be the real reason for the engine stall. When the belt was loosened somewhat, the issue got solved!

When inquired, the mechanic said, the same symptoms were shown in another GDI they repaired recently, and that the issue was with alternator handling the load.

Well I could not exactly make head or tails out of this answer on how it stalled the engine.

How does the tightness of the alternator cable stall a well performing engine?

[Rumesh88]

Weird explanation is n't it? Only thing I can think of is some problem with a bearing on the belt path for this to happen. But at a place like U***O they are supposed set the belt tension to OEM specs - not to do it just arbitrarily. However, if it is problem with a bearing it should become apparent after sometime.

[VVTi]

Weird explanation is n't it? Only thing I can think of is some problem with a bearing on the belt path for this to happen. But at a place like U***O they are supposed set the belt tension to OEM specs - not to do it just arbitrarily. However, if it is problem with a bearing it should become apparent after sometime.

I am thinking the crank pulley Harmonic balancer.... long time I ago I had a Ford T Bird while working in KSA. Engine was running funny and the local Mecury agent tightened the belts and the car started stalling. Took it again and they noticed the Harmonic balancer was busted and the extra tension on the pulleys distorts the pulley and causes the engine to splutter and die. Dont ask me why or how. Replacing the crank pulley sorted it all out.

[The Don]

Weird explanation is n't it? Only thing I can think of is some problem with a bearing on the belt path for this to happen. But at a place like U***O they are supposed set the belt tension to OEM specs - not to do it just arbitrarily. However, if it is problem with a bearing it should become apparent after sometime.

Rumesh, clearly the belt was NOT tightened to oem specs.......

I once suffered premature bearing failure and noisy bearings due to an over tightened timing belt.

[Y3K]

Thanks All,

Still can't figure it out. Can it be an issue with the Alternator?

[The Don]

Thanks All,

Still can't figure it out. Can it be an issue with the Alternator?

If it works fine now, no! The over tightened belt probably put too much tension on the bearings, increasing load on the engine.