I’ve owned my 69 FHC for almost 3 years and the fan belt does not go around the idler pulley. The idler pulley just sits there. I assume that the fan belt must be shorter than normal but everything works great. The fan belt can be adjusted by the arm on the alternator to the correct tension. Should I leave it alone or use the idler pulley with a longer fan belt?
Thanks Andy
69 FHC
I have an extra original fan belt that SNG accidentally shipped me for my 65 roadster. It’s brand new, but by the time I would need it (I had just replaced mine), it will have been on the shelf too long for me to want to use it.
You just pay shipping, and I’ll send it to you if you want it. I hate to see wasted parts.
Hi Andy,
I’ve had mine off the car for 10+ years, I was going through belts and thought it was contributing to their short life span so off it came. Turned out to be that the belt was rubbing against a nut (had a bolt on the alternator wrong side out) but I’ve never felt strongly that I needed to reinstall the idler pulley.
Cheers,
LLynn
Most of the old brit iron I ever owned didn’t have an idler pulley. I just
removed it from the E due to it no longer being workable with the EDIS
trigger wheel.
Personally, I don’t feel it will be any problem.
Andy,
If you are adjusting the tension on the belt by moving the alternator, you must have a different set up from that on my '69. On my car, there is a separate belt between the water pump and the alternator (tensioned by the alternator adjustment). The belt from the crank pulley to the water pump is tensioned by the Idler Pulley. My car doesn’t have power steering or A/C. Does yours?
-David
Bingo (I think).
Had me confused too until I thought about AC, backwards alternators and such.
My theory is that Jaguar originally designed water pump set-up to use a “spring loaded” pulley to reduce stress on water pump? If there is too little tension on belt it will squeal. Too much and it stresses pump?
My theory may be full of holes since alternator and A/C are tensioned belts off of water pump. If it makes a difference that drive pulley is spring loaded and others not I will leave to the engineers to decide. Most modern cars today use a spring loaded idler whether a V belt or serpentine.
Glenn
I suspect it is simpler than that. To tension a pulley you have to have one component that moves - and if the only things on the belt are the crank and water pump, things that are difficult to move about.
Compressors and alternators are easier to move and thus those belts do not need an idler to tension them.
The idler pulley just makes noise and then fails. Leave things as they are.
Thanks guys for your sage advice again. I only have one belt and it drives both the water pump and alternator from the crank pulley. If you look at the photo you can see the idler pulley behind the belt at the far end of belt. The belt comes in front of the idler pulley by about 1/4". I think I’ll just leave things as they are.
Thanks again,
Andy
69 FHC (Dec 68)
That doesnt look right. I have a 70 2+2, it uses 4 belts. One to run the water pump using the idler pulley, one for the alternator, one for ac, one for power steering. I have a feeling youre suposed to have one for the water pump and one for the alternator. Somebody made some changes on yours.
Well, I guess that works.
Andy - is that the original engine? Is that a ‘double V’ belt (hard to see in the photo)?
No, that looks right for a non-AC , manual steering car. One belt drives both the water pump and alternator.
My '68 2+2 uses one belt for the pump and alternator.
Hi Andy… as far as i am aware all S2 non a/c and non p/steering should have 2 drive belts…one from the crank around a tensioner pulley and water pump and one from water pump to alternator…i know that sometimes the 2 belts have been replaced by one…
Sng list the following
S1 4.2…only 1 belt…C24291
S2…water pump…C28955 alternator…EAC1616
Looks like you 2 belts have been replaced sometime by a single…the clue that there should be 2 belts is the 2 tensioners…one the wheel between crank and pump and the other is the tensioner on the alternator… Steve
Geo, yes it’s a double V belt. There are 2 groves in the crank pulley and 2 groves in the water pump pulley and all the pulleys including the idler pulley are in alignment so the only way it could work would be to have the idler pulley on the same belt. BTW no power steering and no A/C.
Yes it is the original engine to the car.
Andy
My 68 non-AC car that has the Series 2 engine set up looks just like Andy’s. Mine still has the idler pulley in use but does seem like would work just fine if you can pivot the alternator well to adjust with a shorter belt. I agree with Glenn that the pulley is most likely to reduce side load on the water pump. My Cosworth Vega uses a sliding water pump pulley to tension the cam belt with a special tool. The cam belt also drives the water pump. The manual is very specific to tension to 15 foot pounds and know by experience if I go higher the water pumps do not last as long if at higher tension.
David
68 E-type FHC
Steve,
I’m with you. The Series 2 parts list for '69 shows two belts for cars with no AC or power steering. One belt from crank to water pump, with an idler to tension it, and one belt from the water pump to the alternator. The comments from folks with 67’s and 68’s are likely valid for the Series 1s, but not, I suspect for the Series 2s. The fact that Andy’s car has double v belts strongly suggests that the pulley system was lifted from a Series 1, as the Series 2s only use single v belts as far as I’m aware. Any one here with a Series 2 with the same setup as Andy’s?
-David
Hi David. John here. a new guy. I noticed my idler pulley was chirping so I removed it to replace. I have worked hours 2 separate times trying to get the belt back on. Then my sister was no help🙄. Anyway now that I saw that my routing was correct it still doesn’t go on… I removed the pulleys on water pump to try to edge it in there, it still won’t go. I have 70 ots. 4.2 original. Any ideas?
I use a rope or wire to fully draw back the idler - even then I position the belt on the water pump and idler so it is just starting to go onto the crank pulley and bump the engine to get it to pop on.
I have tried a slightly longer belt that did not require bumping the motor but once on it would squeal at times - it was simply too loose.
The method I describe is much easier with a cogged belt as you have something (a cog) to catch on the edge of the crank pulley.
