Ok... As always i'm driving around as usual, then all of a sudden on the way up a hill I get that sound we all dread - a beep. Look at the dash - Battery light showing red. Not great.

I think to myself - only a mile tops to home, get home and I can have a look.

I literally get onto my street, pull the car onto the drive, and the car is steaming... I lift the bonnet to find the auxiliary belt totally mashed and pretty much wound around the alternator...

I've got what looks to be an oil pressure warning light now on I think... (flashing red)

And i'm stumped as to what's happened.

Looks like the aux belt has destroyed itself, there's a suspect amount of oil on the drivers side of the engine and i've no method of driving it anywhere really without risking further damage.

So - What do people think could have occured?

the aux belt runs the water pump and the alternator thats why you had the red warning light if you had stopped when that came on the car would not have overheated IE no belt no water pump.the oil light is on because the oil has got too hot and thin hopefully

you just need to fit a new belt and with luck everything will be ok.

bill

I always thought well with all other cars I've owned and worked on over the years that the water pump is usually run off the cambelt not the aux belt

Depends on the design - an MX-5 belt runs both the alternator and the water pump...

Ok...

I may have gotten away with it - However i'm a bit stuck putting the replacement aux belt on. It's the right size and i've got the routing right, but i'm lacking the tool that it says I should have to loosen the tensioner pulley arm (T-30022) - I was attempting to use a monkey wrench to grab the tensioner arm itself to loosen it and then pull over the aircon pulley but I don't seem to be able to get it on.

Is there something obvious i'm doing wrong? Any help?

Also... Does anyone know of an equivalent for this VAG tool T-30022? I can't seem to find one online!

Also... Does anyone know of an equivalent for this VAG tool T-30022? I can't seem to find one online!

it can be done without a special tool, i did it the other month when i had the head off. struggling to remember how though.....

IIRC there is a nut on the arm that you can get a spanner onto and rotate the arm that way - there is not much space and you need to get on it just right to get enough rotation.

car is away having some work done so i cant check but i think that was the way

hope this helps

For the MPI it seems different... The service manual states that I need a special tool - Haynes says I should be able to untension the pulley arm using an adjustable spanner as leverage directly on the arm - but i've been trying for a while with no success...

For the MPI it seems different... The service manual states that I need a special tool - Haynes says I should be able to untension the pulley arm using an adjustable spanner as leverage directly on the arm - but i've been trying for a while with no success...

i do remember it taking a number of tries with lots of swearing and an extra set of hands

it was one of those ones where it looked like it should go on but there was a trick to it.

i think there was a plastic guide wheel that was on an eccentric (not certain though)so you needed a combination of getting that in the right position to give the most slack and getting the tensioner back as much as possible and then slipping the belt over another pulley which had the smallest lip.

i do recal it being a complete sod right up to the point i figured out the sequence and then it popped on without too much fuss

the Haynes manual was next to usless other than to confirm the correct routing for the belt and the description i found more confusing than helpful

Ok, an update:

After clearing the ruined belt bits from the pulleys and making sure they were alright (they were) - Got a new belt and finally got it on... Running like a champ again!

MPI engine == Like. A. Tank.

Might be thirsty, but it's pretty durable - I thought it was gonna be curtains for it but it looks good.

Funny really, i'll kinda miss my MPI when I trade up.

I'll chuck up a pic of what the belt looks like tomorrow. I'm sure people will find it amusing

I'm not sure if the MPi is the same as the diesel engines but the pulley on the alternator has a one way clutch, if this siezes it can damage the tensioner and the belt.

Nah, it looks like catastrophic belt failure if i'm being honest... All pulleys were bang on including the alternator, but pretty much all of the belt was wound around the tensioner arm in strands!

A pic will tell many words tomorrow

MPI engine == Like. A. Tank.

Mien Panzer Impresses....................................................sorry, I'll get my coat!

Glad you got it sorted.

Glad its all sorted now.

I think he's broken his camera now! :think:

Having replaced the aux belt on an MPI......I never had any problems just using the Haynes..........and the belt is at the correct tension and still working fine on my mates car!!!......

It depends on the spec of the car, my basic 1.4mpi classic has no a/c so required nothing more than basic socket/spanners and an £8 belt. A pry bar (OK it's more like Gordon Freeman's crowbar!) does help to tension the alternator up though.

Trading up? What happened to the throttle body upgrade? :p

I know this is a very old thread but as this seems to be only source of information for fitting an auxiliary belt to a 1.4 MPI AQW Fabia with air conditioning, I'd put in my two pence worth. I have spent hours for Googling for advise on this but there is very little information and as @opentoideas mentioned, the Haynes manual is pretty much useless for vehicles with air conditioning.

 

I have just completed mine this morning as the old one had come off the pulleys and was a little worse for wear.

As the OP mentioned, there is a special tool for this, which I found is as rare as rocking horse ****!

My solution was to use a large set on mole grips to lever the tensioner pulley as using my 10" adjustable spanner kept slipping off. Also the adjustable would only pull back as far as the light
 fitting, my mole grips passed under the top edge of this and allowed a little more slack in the belt which was the key for me. I finally managed to pass the belt over the coolant pump pulley (C) pictured, which is very conveniently located under the top engine mount for ease of access 😆

As my belt have already come off, finding the belt routing was very helpful. Also once you have got the belt on, check that it is on all the pulleys correctly. I took a bit off fiddling to get the belt central over the coolant pump pulley and the tensioner.

 

Also the 7Zap website is an invaluable source of information for most makes of cars, https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/.

 

I hope this helps someone else with this issue.

Does the tensioner not have a 5mm (approx) hole through it for locking it after detensioning (if that is a word!) allowing you to easily fit the serpentine belt?

 

It took many years before I found that out, now I can use both hands to fit the belt and do so in safety!

6 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Does the tensioner not have a 5mm (approx) hole through it for locking it after detensioning (if that is a word!) allowing you to easily fit the serpentine belt?

 

It took many years before I found that out, now I can use both hands to fit the belt and do so in safety!

No, not that I could see. Plus these is nothing behind the tensioner for a pin to lock into. I did try to wedge a pry bar in that space but that did not work either.