hi everyone,

i recently fitted a gates cambelt kit to my mk1 fabia vrs.  Initially i found that i had over tensioned the belt, so much that the pointer on the tensioner had gone about 5mm past the notch it is meant to line up with.  When i started it up it had a weird grinding noise and it was really whiny on deceleration.  I have since adjusted the tension on the belt and even fitted a new water pump on the off chance i may have been given a bad one.  the tensioner now reads perfectly in the notch as it is meant to.  this has still not cured the noise.  I have run the car with no auxillary belt on to eliminate the possibility of a bad alternator or ac pump, but the noise persists.  one thing i wondered was whether i am meant to replace the 3 cam sprocket bolts, as when i visually inspected it, the pulley seemed to be wobbling, and i could see the big bolt going through the center of it wasnt bang on in the middle, making its rotation circle more like an oval shape.  is it possible the 3 bolts have bent slightly because of the car being run with the timing belt too tight?

any help is greatly appreciated.

cheers

You can't over tension the cambelt because the tensioner pulley is spring loaded and therefore automatic, you're supposed to line it up with the notch then remove the spring keeper and let it find it's happy place, I have no idea what you've been doing to it but you may have fitted it incorrectly and bent the locating pin on the backplate so it is not located and the spring mechanism is not working as intended.

 

Suggest you lock it up, remove the tensioner pulley and see what's happened.

You're not supposed to loosen the centre bolt on the cam sprocket, just the vernier bolts in the slots so the pulley can rotate slightly once the cam is locked in place.

What do you mean by spring keeper? I used an Alan key to line it up then tighten the nut to hold it in place.

https://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/170883-Setting-the-correct-tension-on-the-Timing-belt

 

This is a Golf but it's the same engine etc.

ive had a look at that link and it says that they got rid of hydraulic tensioners mid 2002, my car is a 2005. also my timing tool kit didnt include t10008.  am i still meant to turn the tensioner anti clockwise before turning it clockwise to set the tension on the belt?

Yes ignore the bit about hydraulic tensioners, further down you'll see the Dayco kit pictured, is that what you fitted?

Nope I fitted a different tensioner than that, looks like the one in this pic.  Worth mentioning I fitted a water pump with a metal impeller not the plastic one.

So the question remains, did you get the spring arm correctly retained in the engine block so that when you used the Allen key you could feel the spring tension in the pulley, it's been a while but the last time I did this I used the Allen key to move the pulley to it's slackest position, locked it in place, fitted the belt, then unlocked the pulley and used the Allen key to align the pointer, relocked it, tightened the cam sprocket vernier bolts, removed the cam locking kit turned the crank two revolutions, checked the locking kit could be refitted and checked the pointer on the pulley was still aligned and adjusted as necessary. Job done, reassemble.

I'm worried because you don't seem to know what I'm talking about!

I didnt turn the tensioner anti clockwise at any point, but yes there was spring tension on it while I was turning it after fitting the belt. I don’t understand what locking it in the most slack position would even achieve though?

4 hours ago, higgins57 said:

I don’t understand what locking it in the most slack position would even achieve though?

 

It enables you to fit the belt.

The belt went on easy enough without locking it back. I think it’s to do with the order you put it on the pulleys. Also I forgot to say I’m an actually an apprentice and it’s the first cambelt I’ve ever done so apologies if my understanding isn’t quite good enough 😂 I’ve got a video here if the noise maybe that can help narrow it down. Cheers

Have you checked the idlers? 

No damage to the edge of the belt (rubbing on the engine) 

I know it's difficult to isolate the noise, had something similar on mine and turned out the be a noisey idler bearing (like a squeaky alternator tensioner) sprayed some WD-40 on trying to identify the noise (on the bearing, not the belt) and the noise went away and hasn't reappeared it previously use to make the noise in the mornings, and go away once warmed up more so on colder mornings.

On 30/08/2021 at 01:06, Boyes said:

Have you checked the idlers? 

No damage to the edge of the belt (rubbing on the engine) 

I know it's difficult to isolate the noise, had something similar on mine and turned out the be a noisey idler bearing (like a squeaky alternator tensioner) sprayed some WD-40 on trying to identify the noise (on the bearing, not the belt) and the noise went away and hasn't reappeared it previously use to make the noise in the mornings, and go away once warmed up more so on colder mornings.

turned out to be a faulty tensioner.  i found in a group on facebook there had been reports of some recent gates belt tensioners whining and seizing, so i replaced everything with genuine bits and it sorted it right out.  turns out i did fit it right in the end haha.  thanks for your help anyway lads