Hello All,

I fitted a new poly belt (used to be called a fan belt in the good old days) to my diesel felicia about 2,000 miles ago. I now see that it's being chewed up by the pulleys. The ribs on the pulleys seem to be coming through the belt and it's now little more than 3 or 4 separate rubber bands running around the alternator, water pump and power steering pump pulleys. It still does the job, but sooner rather than later it's bound to snap.

Before I go out and lash out another £20 on a new belt (Halfrauds' prices), what should I be checking to stop the same thing happening again? Could it be that the belt is too tight? It's on an automatic tensioner and I had the dickens of a job slipping it under the tensioner when I was fitting it.

The old belt had been in there for more than 50,000 miles, was too loose and was slipping on the pulleys - it was the drop in the reading on the rev counter that drew my attention to it.

The new belt came from Unipart, if that makes any difference.

Any help much appreciated.

Meanwhile, Happy Christmas to you all!

Is the tensioner seized? If you get a 15mm spanner on the pulley nut it should be fairly easy to rotate it anticlockwise against the spring (probably at least half a turn or so, although it's a different mechanism to the 1.6 I have so I can't say for sure). Doing this should also make it dead easy to get the belt on and off with your other hand. If it's definitely the correct part for a diesel then the belt shouldn't be too short - all diesels had PAS and no A/C so there's only one belt length, unlike the 3 or 4 options for petrol engines.

Hello Robin,

Thanks for the swift response.

The tensioner turns ok when the engine's running.

When I was putting on the new belt (the one now chewed up) I managed to rotate it upwards to releaes the tension as you describe. Even so, I still had trouble slipping the belt under it even with my teenage son holding the tensioner up as far as it would go.

are you sure you've routed the belt properly? they shouldn't that tight to get on

Thanks Tom - fair point,

Just to confirm, from the top of the crankshaft pulley, the belt goes under the tensioner, over the alternator, under the PAS pump, over the smooth water pump pulley and then back under the crankshaft pulley.

When I get a bit of daylight (off work from Friday for Christmas) I'll take off that bit of tin under the engine and see if anything silly has happened in and around the pulleys that's not visible from above.

Why on earth can't they make things simple like in the old days, when all you had was a vee belt and a moveable alternator?

Here's an almost photographic* copy of the Haynes diagram for the 1.9D:

*Possibly. My tablet PC art skills are after all almost mediocre!

You don't get the simple alternator-tensioned setup from the basic 1.3 Felicias 'cause if you didn't have the PAS, you'd realise the VW engines weigh about as much as the rest of the car

possibly the wrong belt altho I fit them to the water pump last as its easier to slip it over the smooth pully. also check for damaged pulleys and stones trapped in the grooves

possibly the wrong belt altho I fit them to the water pump last as its easier to slip it over the smooth pully. also check for damaged pulleys and stones trapped in the grooves

Reminds me when did the waterpump on the cube there was loads of play and the belt was cutting into strips. Perhaps the result of the tension continually altering as the pump rumbled round or maybe worn out `v`s slipping and bottoming the belt out. Was it a 5PK belt?

Edited 21 December, 201015 yr by rolo

Thanks for all the info' guys, especially the 'CAD' drawing of the belt routing - it appears I've routed it correctly at any rate.

When I get off work for Christmas and am at home in daylight, I'll take the belt off again and go exploring round the pulleys to see if anything's amiss in terms of stones in the grooves or if the pump's on the way out.

I've kept the old belt, which I'd removed as it was getting slack, and I'll compare the length with that of the chewed one, just in case it's not quite the right fit.

Thanks again, and have a wonderful Christmas!