Fabia MK III squeaky belt when cold

[shifta]

Hi all,

        Wife's car which is 2016 1.2 tsi with 33k has started to belt squeak when its cold outside just for a few seconds, would i be right (hoping) that its the aux belt. if so are they straight forward enough to change. did them before on older cars nothing this new.

 

Cheers 

[rum4mo]

Can you check the condition of your battery, normally an auxiliary belt squeaking for a short period, in cold weather after a cold start is down to the extra loading on it due to the battery being needing recharging - which in turn could be due to lots of short journeys or lack of use, and that might be killing the battery which has become very "charge needy".

 

Other than that, I've only ever had a squeaking auxiliary belt if I had been a bit over zealous with a hose pointed into the engine bay - I can't remember the last time that happened.

[TerFar]

It does suggest to me that it is a sign of wear. It's cold in the mornings, so the belt should be tight and as Rum4mo suggests, that extra load on the alternator when just started may be why it squeals and stops shortly after moving off. It should be a quick job to replace it.

[J.R.]

You would have to go back 30 years to the old days of V belts and adjustment by swinging the alternator for that to be the case.

 

Nothing since then with poly V auxiliary drive belts & sprung tensioners will ever slip unless the shaft has seized on the item being driven, because the tensioner acts on the outside of the belt pushing it inwards it drives the pulley through about 180° rather than a max of 120° on the old style, add to that the multiple vee groove contact & slippage is a thing of the past.

[J.R.]

2 minutes ago, TerFar said:

It does suggest to me that it is a sign of wear. It's cold in the mornings, so the belt should be tight

 

The belt will be tensioned whatever the temperature.

[rum4mo]

@J.R., in respect to my reply, yes not much chance of shiny V pulleys or sides of belt, but in this case something is causing an initial squeaking, and it could be the tensioner roller bearing or the alternator bearing, though at that age and mileage, I would not have expected it to be that.

 

So to OP, in your position, the first thing that I would do if you handy with working on cars, is to remove that belt one morning before running it, spin the tensioner roller and the other "free to move" pulleys". Edit:- then start it up with the belt off to see if there is any noises.

 

The only thing that should be wrong with a micro groove drive belt at that age is that it has been deluged with salty water from road spray and the salt has glazed it enough to cause that, I've had that happen but it normally eventually vanishes as the salt wears off the belt's inner surface.

Edited 16 April, 2021 by rum4mo

[J.R.]

Good idea, I also wondered whether a failure of the alternator one way sprag clutch could cause a squeaking noise but only on start up?