idealcheese

The belts were definitely not loose by any stretch of the imagination. This is why I can only surmise that they broke from being too tight. But what do I know? Very little.

T&T Racing

DIf the rememants of the belts fall into the belly pan?

idealcheese

my car came to me without a belly pan. The belts are gooooooooone

peanut

it sounds to me like water has got into your DME when washing the car...either that or water has got into something that is causing an intermittent connection.
I think I wold be tempted to put a dehumidifier in the car to dry it out and if that doesn't improve things then I'd pull the DME and check it for water damage.
If the Alternator bearing is worn it will squeal . ........tightening the belt will only cause increased wear and if over tightened will probably cause it to fail altogether.
Its probably best to fit a reconditioned alternator with the new belts but make sure that the pulleys are in line

Jfrahm

Losing the belts is often due to incorrectly tightening the jackscrews/struts that tension the belts. These struts can easily overpower the studs and attachment points, which break and then the loose belts drop off.

The key is to only undo and tighten the locknuts with the other stuff all tight. When those are loose you can loosen the pivot and eye nuts/bolts so the assemblies can move without tearing parts off the car.
-Joel.