Hello,

 

I wrote here a month ago about the really poor state of my timing belt of my Fabia Mk1 2000 1.9 TDI (ATD) and did not know if it was worth to pay for its replacement.

I finally did it anyway, as I found a cheap but serious shop to do it, in order to get 1 or 2 years more from the car without breaking it on the highway.

 

He did the job, and put in a brand new DAYCO kit and told me that indeed, my old belt was really loose.

Then, when I rode the car, I heard a weird high pitched and regular noise coming straight from the timing belt.

 

The sound looks like a turbo whistle, but it isn't, and it follows exactly the speed of the timing belt (no lag).

Immediatly, it felt like it is "too tensed".

 

I came back to the shop, had an argument.

The guy saying he hears nothing, everything normal, but I did NOT have this weird sound before.

He accepted anyway to do it again.

He kept telling me that he could not adjust the tension anyway, as there is an automatic tensioner.

 

Well.

 

He did the job again, replacing everything but the water pump.

He told me that it was the first time he saw this : the first timing belt was really difficult to put in, but the new one went it like a charm.

 

Okey.

 

I drove away, and still heard the noise, but lower volume.

 

I attached the sounds to this post : could you tell me what you think?

I did not have this sound before. Perhaps my old belt was really too loose, and with the news one, another part of the engine is making this noise?

I thought about the "waffle" texture of the belt which have to be worn out a little bit, but after 2000 km, I do not notice any improvement.

This morning, it was wet and cold, it made a little bit less noise for about 2 minutes, then again.

 

Anyway, thank you for your attention.

 

Regards,

Philippe

 

 

Fabia_2.m4a Fabia_1.m4a

I would give it time to bed in. I've known them be like that for a while when new. Also some new bearings like idlers can whine for a bit at first. Mine did it when I replaced the alternator belt idler pulley but it's quiet now.

Curious that you mentioned Dayco, I bought a new auxiliary belt for my wife's previous Polo, and when I examined it, it appeared to have been cut slightly "across" the material bias - and if I placed it on a flat surface it was "arched" whereas I expected it to lie flat - I fitted it and it lasted for the remainder of our time with that car, but on that single experience if I have the choice, I'd avoid buying any Dayco belts, these are not French cars anyway!

@TMB,1000 more kilometers now, and nothing changed 😔

Anyway, yeah, I will clearly avoid Dayco from now on, @rum4mo.

 

The car shop guy told me it's one of the best, and did not want to replace it with a Gates kit when I asked for, as it would be the same pieces, just more expensive.

It must just have been that he already knew he will not change the water pump while doing the job again, and flush everything again.

 

And what do you think about the sound files I attached?

The profit margin on Dayco is much bigger than Gates because it's junk, he's talking absolute rubbish.

BTW, I didn't make it clear that the Dayco auxiliary belt that I bought for my wife's 2002 VW Polo, was a genuine VW Group part supplied by my usual VW dealership.

It's only an auxiliary belt, it doesn't matter what brand you use for that, the Dayco timing kits contain really poor quality components, particularly the auto tensioner pulley which is made of Chinese cheese.

Okey, so I might simply got rekt...

Good to make this mistake with an old car.

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

Now I just hope that it will not break prematurely, as it was exactly to avoid exploding everything on the highway that I paid the price of the car 👺