Noise from engine, belt or pulley

[Mjr001]

When my 1.6tdi starts from cold there is a noise which comes from the engine or pulley/belt like a rubbing noise every second until its revved slightly. I think it's the belt but not sure. This goes after about 2 minutes and would like to know if it's easy enough to change the belts on this engine ?

[erindad]

It sounds like the alternator belt. You could try putting some water on the belt when running and to see if it stops the noise. Stand back or take a shower !. Not a big job to change the belt.

[Mjr001]

Do you have an idiots guide to changing it. Would the wheel well liner have to be removed to change it?

I assume the tensioner is spring loaded and turns with a spanner to release tension and remove the belt?

[Mjr001]

I tried placing water on the belt above the alternator but it made no difference. I then dropped water onto the crankshaft pulley and the noise went straight away. Possibly the water on the alternator side was on the flat of the belt and where the crankshaft is it was on the toothed section of belt. Does seem like belt unless any other ideas ?

[Mjr001]

I had the alternator belt changed yesterday and tried it again this morning but the noise is still there. Only when it's cold and only lasts a minute or two after I start it. It's a squeak like sound every second and goes after I raise the rpm. The garage said he looked at the pulleys yesterday and they seemed ok

 

More annoying than anything. I'm assuming it's the aux belt side rather than the cam belt side as I put water on the btm pulley and the noise went straight away. I'm not sure but I assume the cambelt has plastic covers on so if it was that the water would have made no difference?

[kirkynut]

It could be the bearing in the tensioner running slightly dry of grease where the grease has hardened with age.

 

When you rev it on these cold mornings you just get it warm enough to stop the squeak. 

 

If the bearing is not grumbling I'd not worry and just live with it. I had similar last year on my BMW E46 but it went away and is not doing it this winter.

 

I've had the belts off of that and could find no issues either.

 

Kirkynut 

[Mjr001]

16 minutes ago, kirkynut said:

It could be the bearing in the tensioner running slightly dry of grease where the grease has hardened with age.

 

When you rev it on these cold mornings you just get it warm enough to stop the squeak. 

 

If the bearing is not grumbling I'd not worry and just live with it. I had similar last year on my BMW E46 but it went away and is not doing it this winter.

 

I've had the belts off of that and could find no issues either.

 

Kirkynut 

Thanks. 

[Mjr001]

Does anyone know the quickest way to swap out the tensioner. Would it be easier to take the under tray out to get to it or the wheel and liner. When the garage changed the belt they took off the under tray and swapped it in 10 mins. Any help grateful also hows it connected to the engine, torx, socket ?  Can't see much from the top of the engine

[Mjr001]

Any ideas to find out exactly what is causing the noise?  Also best way to do the tensioner either from below or take shield out of wheel well

[Golf-Fiend]

1 hour ago, Mjr001 said:

Any ideas to find out exactly what is causing the noise?  Also best way to do the tensioner either from below or take shield out of wheel well

 

You could remove the belt and start the engine for a few moments to see if the noise is there or not. Should help eliminate some options.

 

If the tensioner is anything like that on a 1.9 (looking at Eurocarparts it might be but don't have your details) then the fixing bolt is reached from the back of the tensioner i.e. towards the middle of the engine outwards. It needs a long 13mm (I think) socket and various extension bars with a swivel joint.  I did this on my wife's Fabia 1.9 and it was like fisting a metal midget, if you'll excuse the phrase and that was just getting to the bolt.

 

Not sure what the clearance is like but the chassis arm is quite close and requires the tensioner to be manouvered in just such a way (that nobody can tell you) to extract and replace. I thought it was a pig of a job. Space on the Octy might be better?

Edited 4 December, 2019 by Golf-Fiend

[Mjr001]

How will that help as the only pulley moving then is the crank

[Golf-Fiend]

4 minutes ago, Mjr001 said:

How will that help as the only pulley moving then is the crank

 

It will eliminate noises from 1/ The Tensioner 2/ The Alternator 3/ The Aircon Compressor 4/ The Belt itself

[Mjr001]

7 hours ago, Golf-Fiend said:

 

It will eliminate noises from 1/ The Tensioner 2/ The Alternator 3/ The Aircon Compressor 4/ The Belt itself

Yes but once the belt is removed there will be no noise as everything stops so cannot pinpoint which pulley it is as nothing then turns

[Golf-Fiend]

34 minutes ago, Mjr001 said:

Yes but once the belt is removed there will be no noise as everything stops so cannot pinpoint which pulley it is as nothing then turns

 

True, but you can then tell if it is coming from the engine block or the cambelt itself.  It's probably the aux belt tensioner anyway.

 

What I found after changing the one on my wife's Fabia was that the tension part of the tensioner is fine and all that was needed was to change the pulley. However you cannot buy just the pulley, you get the whole thing. If I had thought about it I would have unbolted the pulley from the new tensioner and put it on the old one and saved myself about 3hours and a trip to get a long reach 13mm socket.

[Mjr001]

I have just taken the auxiliary belt off and the noise is still there. Ahhh. I'm wondering if the pulleys or water pump may not have been replaced when the cambelt was done 20k ago. Any ideas

[Golf-Fiend]

Hmmmm. That’s annoying. Could it be the plastic cambelt cover rubbing? You could try removing these. Upper is simple and unclips. Lower is trickier as you’ll have to remove wheel and arch liner and the aux belt etc. 

 

If it is the water pump you might as well get the cambelt done again for the sake of an extra £120 on top of an already expensive job. Did the garage you had the cambelt done previously have a good reputation? 

[Mjr001]

Not sure. I bought the car 2 months ago so not sure. Just I saw the receipt in the service folder for a timing belt replacement 

[KenONeill]

7 hours ago, Mjr001 said:

I have just taken the auxiliary belt off and the noise is still there. Ahhh. I'm wondering if the pulleys or water pump may not have been replaced when the cambelt was done 20k ago. Any ideas

Check the invoice; mine had the parts listed, and when I phoned the garage they said "£X, including a full belt kit and a new water pump."

[Qumber]

Hi @Mjr001, did you find the cause of the issue? I am facing the same problem in my 2009 Octavia 1.9 TDI. There's screeching noise when I code start the engine, but it goes away after a minute. TIA.