On my 97 XJR the supercharger belt tensioner came apart today on the highway taking the belt with it. Parts are on order and will be here Friday.

My question is can I drive the car without the supercharger belt on?

I know that performance will take a big hit. My concern is doing any permanent damage to the engine running this way. Unfortunately I need the car to get back and forth to work.

Is there any harm in light driving the car for a couple of days without the belt? Thanks

 

There is no problem running the supercharged AJ16 engine without a belt. I've covered hundreds of miles like that.

 

in theory should it be easier on petrol consumption w/o the s/c belt on?

 

That's what I thought also but after doing some research, the lower compression ratio without the supercharger boost greatly affects performance

 

In my experience, removing the SC drive belt improved fuel consumption by about 2mpg (imperial)

 

This is funny as my tensioner seized and melted on Friday. In the past three weeks I didn't like the sound of the belt drives. I sounded off to me. But, I made it to work and had the part on the shelf as I was going to do belts in three weeks. I guess she couldn't wait a couple more weeks.

 

Yeah, similar happened to my tensioner on the Riviera. Squeaked a few times on startup, then seized and ate the belt.

The conventional wisdom on the Riviera Performance board is that once you start to hear the dreaded intermittent pulley squeal.... you have days to get it replaced before it grenades.

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