aux belt tensioner

[bond007]

after a while away from here after buying a scirocco i've now bought another vrs, this to go with the TT/leon cupra/ beetle 1.8 20V that i've got on the drive at the moment, only bought it yesterday and i'm spending the weekend sorting the niggles that i've found so far, i work for a VAG breakers yard so i'm spending the day robbing the couple of vrs's we have in for all the little bits that are broke ie cupholder, ashtray etc, just wanted any tips on changing the aux belt tensioner as the one on it at the moment is squeeking pretty bad, looks pretty straight forward just wanted to know if you guys had found any no no's when changing one

[Lofty79]

just 3 bolts dude if its same one as on my cuz's 4x4. his was squeaking the belt turned out it was sitting fractionally off line, we shimmed one of the mount holes and it shut up

[Raf_]

Also while the belt is off check the pulleys spin freely

Sent from my Galaxy S2 not a Crapple!

[bond007]

yeh i can see the tensioner jumping when running so i think its due a change, i guess taking it offs the easy part its putting it back on obviously with the belt having to be tensioned, does the tensioner slacken to allow the belt onto its roller?

[Lofty79]

yeah theres a piece of metal comes out of the opposite end of pully, it sits at top when installed. we used that to lever it slack whilst putting belt on

Edited 17 August, 2012 by Lofty79

[bond007]

ok mate much appreciated

[Lofty79]

no bother, sits on top so easy to get at

[bond007]

enjoyed changing this last night only to start the car up and its still whining

[Lofty79]

altenater bearing, or idler pulley, put a long screwdriver on the altenater whilst running, and press your ear onto the screwdriver handle, youll here the noise very loudly if its that.

could also be aircon compresser on way out, or even power steering hehe. anything that touches the belt basically

Edited 22 August, 2012 by Lofty79

[trundlenut]

If the setup on the 1.8 is the same as the diesels then I would be looking at the freewheel pulley on the alternator, when that siezes it tends to kill the aux tensioner. Just changing the tensioner may just lead to it killing that one.

[Lofty79]

so a +1 for idler pulley, belt off and check that buddy

[Lofty79]

may not have one

[bond007]

your right this doesnt have an idler pulley, not going to be a quick fix after all!

[Lofty79]

take belt off and see if anything is stiff to turn. Is the tensioner dead straight? If its not shimmed straight the nylon pulley churps and squeels.

[bond007]

yeh looks like i'm going to have to do some more digging, its just its exactly the same noise as before which is why i suspect it wasnt the tensioner at fault

[trundlenut]

Is the noise worse when the revs drop. i.e. hold the revs steady at say 3k and let it drop straight back to idle. Also is it worse if you turn on everything electrical?

If it is then it could well be the alternator pulley.