Date:         Sun, 6 May 2001 10:48:57 +0300
Reply-To:     Stebbins <stebbins@aucegypt.edu>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Stebbins <stebbins@aucegypt.edu>
Organization: The American University in Cairo
Subject:      freak: alternator belt JUMPed off
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

On our last trip, we went to Siwa, about 500 KMs west of
Cairo and 300 Kms south of the Mediterranean, it is a small
oasis town/village.  As we were driving slowly along some of
the back dirt "paths" my ever-observant wife said: "The
needle is VERY high!"  As I looked at the gauges,  I could
see that the battery light was also ON.  I had been
concentrating on driving and she had glanced at the gages
(good vanagon wife!!).  I immediately stopped.    At the
back of the van, coolant was spewing out of the top of the
secondary expansion tank and the alternator/water-pump belt
was just lazing about on top of the engine!  How could that
be!!!!

We decided to go have a glass of juice while the engine
cooled off so we could work on it.  Upon our return, I saw
the oil filler cap was lodged in under the water pump pulley
- my oil filter tube is not stock, it is a flexible radiator
hose with a rubber "stopper" in the top.  The cap had deep
grooves in it from the pulley.  I checked the water pump
pulley, it was not wobbly the alt pulley was OK too.  I can
ONLY surmise that somehow the cap blew/giggled off and
became lodged in the pulley (freak incident) and heated up
the belt and it just squeezed itself off the pulley.  We put
the belt back on, lodged the oil filler cap in a better
place and had no problems on our way home.  What a freak
incident.  Malcolm