My auxilliary belt (alternator) broke the other day.

 

Fitted a new one but the alignment looks way out.

 

The belt is fitted on the pulleys correctly but was always a bit off-centre. Now it's much worse.

 

I tried to fit a new tensioner but it was impossible to get the new one in with it locked with the pin in the untensioned position so refitted the old one by locking it and taking the pulley off (couldn't get the bolt undone on the new one to remove the pulley).

 

Is it possible to fit the belt tensioner with it locked with the pin?

 

Has anyone else had belt alignment problems and it it likely to fail?

 

I have already ordered a new alternator clutch pulley and tool to fit as I think that is seized too.

It is tricky to get them in. When I did mine I took the charge pipe section out and kind of went in from behind. Took a lot of fiddling and manoeuvring to get it in but it did go quite easily once I'd got the sweet spot and got it lined up. New tensioner and genuine belt solved my misalignment issue, but it wasn't that bad for me.

If the belt is out of line it may wear excessively and generate too much heat which will increase wear rate.

It could be that your existing tensioner is locking occasionally, which mine was, so when loading changed using heating and so on, the tensioner arm didn't move to take up the slack so the belt would wander off that pulley a little. Plus there was a tiny bit of play in the bearing.

Had my tensioner and belt go two weeks ago, caused by a locked ALternator Clutch Pulley. Did not have any serious misalignment issues but maybe my belt is slightly off being centered but did not look like it would cause any issues.

 

I did have a issue with the INA Tensioner bought from a local motor factor not having the correct body shape - only one housing key not two (at 6 & 12 oclock positions) so when this was tightened in the block it looked like it was twisting and would not be sitting on the belt squarely. They ordered another more expensive one (different make ) but this was the same, I ended up finding a dayco one on ebay at a great price (autopartjungle) which was a solid body unit that fitted perfectly.

 

It does fit with the pin in , point the pulley wheel down to the ground and back it up in to the hole, should not need to dismantle the tensioner but compare the two items to ensure it has the correct body as there are lots of pattern items out there which may not be 100% like the OE item - I believe the dayco item I bought is the same as a Skoda item (Cheaper) as they grind the name of the casting to re-sell as DAYCO.

 

Good Luck

The SKF one is bang on

I had  a new tensioner fitted by the dealer (DM Keith in Bradford) as it's local to work.

 

I fitted a new belt and alternator clutch pulley myself (broke a spanner it was that tight!) but the belt tensioner looked a sod to fit so just paid for it to be done (£115 and the tensioners are almost £50 so not too bad).

 

All sorted now and running lovely and true and the car is much quieter and smoother idling now (unless it's just my imagination).

 

It anyone wants to buy a single use alternator pulley removal tool (good german sourced one that is really short and easy to fit in without removing the alternator) it's available for £5.