Haha, uh.... Oops!

Yeah, if the belt is not working right, that is more than likely the issue. Wouldn't hurt to check the brushes when you are doing other maintenance though.

I really like the belts that are solid on the V and notched on the back - like the Dayco top cogs. I replaced my original daycos after at least 5 years with new generics (notched V's) and had the new ones fail within 2 years. I replaced them with new top cogs, no such problems.

As for how far you can drive, it depends on how you drive, how old the battery is, and how much you charge it before you drive.

I personally wouldn't want to drive anywhere like that. I'd try to just tighten up the belt and see what happens. Don't forget to loosen the 12/13MM lock-nut on the front of the adjuster BEFORE you move the 10mm adjusting bolt.

You can drive it, but if you do drive somewhere and kill your battery on the road, you'll lose power while driving, and drain your battery pretty completely. Not the end of the world, but I'd avoid it before I embrace it.

--
1990 740 Turbo, on its way to stock specs, maybe beyond