Drive belt tensioner wont sit right

[fwdnewbie]

Hopefully someone has some ideas on this.

 

I changed the aux belt and tensioner the other day and only got round to starting the car today.

 

Belt is making a bit of a dull moaning noise and on closer inspection isnt sitting on the tensioner wheel straight. 

It is located on all other pulleys within the groves properly. 

 

I slackened the belt and pushed it over but as soon as I started the car it moved over again.

 

Why is it doing this? 

 

I've fitted a few before to tdi lumps with no issues 

[Mankee]

This was the very first job I had to do on my mk1 when I got it 4.5 years ago! I think I shimmed one of the fixing bolts with a washer. The belt still ran on the wonk but was much better than without shimming. No idea why and it never posed a problem. Just a bit annoying not seeing it run true. I got a good local independent VAG workshop to do the timing belt last summer and they didn't bat an eyelid about the alternator belt tensioner bodge.

[fwdnewbie]

Cheers for that @Mankee

Just needed a bit of reassurance with it.

I doubt it would ever slip but it just looks odd 

[Mankee]

I kept the old belt in the boot for a "just in case" moment but have never needed it. Hopefully you won't either!

[fwdnewbie]

Took your advert @Mankee and shimmed it out slightly from the block.

 

Took it off and put an old screw to hold the tensioner open

 

Put it all back in and now the tensioner wont close back up even with the screw out.

 

Any idea? 

[Mankee]

That's odd. It's decided to stop springing back now? Is there any tension at all in it?

[fwdnewbie]

Nothing it just sat in the slack position, it very slowly went back to position after about 10mins but appears the spring inside has given up.

Looks like another few days on axle stands for me 

[Mankee]

Is it not a new tensioner you replaced it with?

[fwdnewbie]

Yep brand new, not a premium brand it was Mapco but even so I'd expect to be able to put it back in its locked position at least once more after initial installation. 

 

I dont want to have the agro of fitting another new one, just to find it sits off line again and have the same trouble when trying to shim it if necessary 

[Mankee]

Yeah, that's pretty rubbish if it's new and bust already.

[DannyBoy81]

Not sure if this will help but when I did mine there was a bracket that holds some pipes above the tensioner and i put this back on between the tensioner and the engine and it ran off like yours. I moved the bracket to the front of the tensioner and it was fine. 

[fwdnewbie]

57 minutes ago, DannyBoy81 said:

Not sure if this will help but when I did mine there was a bracket that holds some pipes above the tensioner and i put this back on between the tensioner and the engine and it ran off like yours. I moved the bracket to the front of the tensioner and it was fine. 

 

Do you mean the one with the 2 bolt holes in it which uses the same bolts as the tensioner itself. 

If yes then that one is definitely in the right place 

[DannyBoy81]

Yeah that's the one. I couldn't see on your pic. 

[fwdnewbie]

Yeah its just out of shot but I cant say it may not of been in incorrect place when I took that photo.

 

Well ordered a gates tensioner so will see how that sits when it arrives 

[fwdnewbie]

Issue now cured.

Got a gates tensioner which cost £9 more.

 

Sits perfect no problems.

 

Fortunately the ebay company admitted the poor quality of the mapco product and refunded it in full 

[mac11irl]

Did you do a side by side comparison of the crap one and the Gates one, to see if theres any obvious differences?

[fwdnewbie]

They looked pretty much identical but the cheap one was fully open and the gates one locked closed. 

 

The gates one doesn't sit 100% straight so if you hold it against a wall the wheel tips inwards.

I can only assume the cheaper brands dont hence why they kick the belt off