Yanmar 3YM30 Alternator Belt Replacement and Adjustment

[faa50]

Scrubby,


I'm just "your average bear in the woods" in that I am a beginner at maintaining these Yanmar engines.

The OEM belt part number is 128990-77580 also imprinted on the belt is 13 120. Hope this helps. The V groove is significantly deeper than the belt I replaced it with.

I put a V belt on that is 1" longer but is already starting to slop after 12 hrs on the engine. On my prior post you will not I had to leave the tension bar off due to the holes no longer aligned with the mount. So a put another new belt on just to bet me where we had to go today figuring I had 10 hrs before this one too started slipping.

In regard to the OEM belts I still have the original belt on and its working well and not showing signs of wear. Hours on that engine are almost right at 1,400. The three pulleys each have five metal edges that the each V groove sits on. Not sure if yours or similar or this may explain why the belt is lasting.

One interesting note, I checked with a reputable, knowledgeable Yanamar dealer when I bought the boat, planning to purchase two spare belts. When I informed him what type I had, he said "your wasting your money because those belts will out live you. No need for spares." Well either I'm on the verge of dying and simple too stupid to realize it, or the dealer is wrong. I like the second option.

My engines are going through raw water pumps at a pretty fast clip (3 raw water pumps within 1,100 hrs) and I am starting to believe the two issues are related. Here's why. The same Yanmar dealer shared that the reason why the raw water pumps are going bad so quickly is that owners/mechanics are over tensioning their Yanmar 3ym30 alternator belts. And furthermore he said, this piece of equipment on the engine was redesigned from its predecessor because of a faulty design. Yet it too, is failing frequently on these engines.

Given the amount of tension that is required to even get the belt onto the pull, it leaves no room to tension and already extremely tight. I do have to say my other engine though is the same equipment and working fine so it may be my lack of experience.

I now carry spare alternator belts aboard.

[macman4190]

Originally Posted by jacktheflyer

Looking up the p/n for your belt it would appear to be 998mm circumference. When I bought my boat one engine had 995 mm and the 1000mm belts. Of course I bought replacements the same as what was on them and found the 995 mm belt difficult to fit and the 1000mm to be perfect.

Scrubby

Last year I replaced both belts on my 3YM30. It is critical to get the correct impeller pump belt. There are two OEM options, and it depends on your engine serial number. One belt is slightly larger than the other. It was a pain to install it, but following the manual was enough and no alterations were necessary. However, if the parts guy had been slightly less knowledgeable and thorough, and sold me the smaller belt ...

[jacktheflyer]

Sounds like you have serpentine belts rather than V belts. This is indeed an answer to my problem which involves just the standard V type fan alternator. The conversion is expensive.

When you install a new belt, readjust after 15 min might give you a better result.

If you are having trouble with your raw water pumps, research 'Philips' pumps. Parts are much cheaper than OEM parts and you can get plates, impellors and stuff but the housing is a special build for Yanmar. my pumps have done 2000hrs and the housing is still intact but ahve replace impellors, end plates seals and bearings recently. I use ASAP in the UK for parts.
Scrubby

[Wotname]

Be aware that Yanmar use a variety of water pumps even on the same model engine. These are often country specific and certainly serial number specific. Thus even raw water hoses and belts vary. Some Yanmar dealers know this and some don't!

[Supers0nic]

The top bolt that holds the altenator and shroud. It is not a standard hex head. It just has two flat sides. That is what needs to be loosened.

Ps. Leave the shroud off to help cool the altenator.

[Jacana]

Just changed after 1000 hours, serpentine and impeller belts .
Yes very tight to get on/off ,make sure all bolts loosened including the adjustment bolt which is a new addition on the 3ym30 . I then used a 22 ml socket on the alternator pulley to rotate while prising the belt off , ditto when putting new one on.Tight as but it works .

[chris in SG]

When I upgraded to 100amp Balmar alternators, I found the standard V belts to be totally inadequate and personally I think Balmar is wrong to sell these alternators with a V-pulley. I made this comment previously on this forum and others disagreed, saying that careful attention to adjustment is sufficient.

Anyway, I gave up and purchased the Balmar serpentine kits - not cheap, especially for 2 engines. Assuming the Yanmar alternator has the same shaft size, you can upgrade to a serpentine belt and keep the original (Hitachi?) alternator. If the OEM alternator is 75-80 amps (I forget), it must be close to the limit of what the V belt can handle.

[Rapanui]

The original alternator belts lasted a long time. Replacing them was a pain for all the reasons above. The only way I could get the belt on was to bar the engine over with the belt partially on, then it eventually springs in place.
Loosening the alternator and removing everything to thread the belt is tedious, not something I would want to do at sea. Fortunately, we have a cat so could use the other motor and go into a nice bay, fix and have a restorative swim.