Hi All - I've had a Superb 1.9 TDi (PD130) for a month which was remapped by Will at P-Torque a week back

Last couple of days the mornings have been cold and I've noticed an irregular loud tick from the front of the engine, couldn't hear it from inside but really loud when stood in front of the car with it running

Popped the hood and noticed the tensioner on the alternator belt was 'jumping' in time with the tick, the belt itself appears to be running smooth. After a few minutes it stops doing it

The tensioner on the alternator belt appears to be working as it should, but what can be causing it to jump and tick? I presume that there's some sort of clutch / slip mechanism on the drive from the alternator, and when the alternator's working hard first thing in the morning with the fan, heated rear window on etc something's amiss

Any ideas or shared past experience of this would be welcomed. By the way, I'm in no way attributing this to the recent remap which I'm totally over the moon with:thumbup:

Motor's done 84K, cambelt done 8K back

Cheers................Sam

Could well be the alternator clutch on its way out. Be careful it doesnt give up completly and rip off the belt and tensioner!

Replace the alternator freewheeling pulley - asap. 80k miles is as far as they will run as the torsional oscillations kill them. You need 2 special tools to change the pulley - or 1 if you dismantle the alternator and clamp the rotor claws.

As a one-off repair, I would take the alternator to a specialist and ask them to change the pulley - take a new one with you and catch them on a good day and they'll do it for beer money.

Unless you chop the lower alternator mounting bolt and replace it with studding, you will need to move the viscous-coupled fan assembly forwards - easy if you can get the bolt out at the back.

rotodiesel.

Thanks for the detailed reply Roto - I've two months of a warranty left from my local dealer so it's going there at 8 this morning, may as well use it eh. Took it to them a week back and they told me it was OK to drive like it until they could have it in - :thumbdwn: - said it was a known problem and that one of their Customers is a cabbie who drove for a month with one the same..................clearly I checked that if something catastrophic happened during the week that they'd cover it!

Did Skoda's suddenly become more unreliable between 2000 and 2003? Never had anything fail on my older Fabia which I put 200K on

Thanks for the detailed reply Roto - I've two months of a warranty left from my local dealer so it's going there at 8 this morning, may as well use it eh. Took it to them a week back and they told me it was OK to drive like it until they could have it in - :thumbdwn: - said it was a known problem and that one of their Customers is a cabbie who drove for a month with one the same..................clearly I checked that if something catastrophic happened during the week that they'd cover it!

Did Skoda's suddenly become more unreliable between 2000 and 2003? Never had anything fail on my older Fabia which I put 200K on

mine just started making a simalar noise.

roto ,the pulley you mention is it fitted in the alternator

or is it the pulley that is on the belt.

no noise until i put on all lights ,aircon, rear demist then an

intermittent squeal can be heard with the tensiner on belt

juddering.

now on 84k

do i need a alternator.

john

Edited 15 December, 200916 yr by alfredjohn