Hi guys and gals. My Felicia 1.9 Diesel (code AEF) mileage 143K. Squeals on starting only when engine cold. Noise goes away after a few minutes and/or revs above 1100. Have replaced aux drive belt and tensioner, cambelt etc., roughed up water pump pulley all to no avail. Putting heavy load on alternator makes no difference. Suggestions have been alternator clutch (if fitted) or crankshaft pulley - both around £100 each + fitting with no guarantee!

Has anyone out there experienced a similar problem?

it will probably be the belt squeeling due to the imposed load on the battery as it is started , this in turn makes the alternator work flat out to put power back onto the battery. try putting the battery on charge overnight and see if it is the same in the morning. if it is not , the battery could be on its way out

I had a similar fault, eventually diagnosed as the clutch in the alternator pulley wheel. There was very little discernable movement, I'd tried to find it myself - slipping belts, slack in pulley bearings etc. The local garage found it, replaced the pulley and it's been fine ever since (touch wood). R reg 1.9D estate.

(I'd started to panic that it was the injector pump as it was close by and I thought I'd ruled out the obvious, cheap stuff.)

My alternator pulley wheel just came off , no warning (at least the Missus didnt report anything... who knows, she once drove 1/2 mile with two slashed tyres before twigging something wasnt right). Anyway, got the car towed home and looks like the pulley clutch disintergrated and it sheared off.

Had a look at the Butts catalogue, and cant find a pulley wheel - nothing evident in Haynes either - is it a new alternator job? :eek: ????

alternator clutch:confused:

Ive Done some digging, looks like I need a special tool to remove the pulley (or a large/long torx bit and some way of holding the alternator shaft still:confused::confused:).

Will give it a go today as have some decent size torx sockets somewhere, hopefully can do it in situ rather than having to pull the Rad out (although could do a flush while I´m at it). If I cant get the pulley off, I´ll just have take the alt. to a garage or the Stealership (boooo)...

alternator clutch:confused:

Me too; I thought the alternator was direct driven at engine speed, well subject to pulley ratios anyway.

Edited 3 November, 200817 yr by KenONeill
Clarification

Me too; I thought the alternator was direct driven at engine speed.

yeah, the alternator is plain... the only component that has a clutch on it is the air-conditioning compressor pump

mmmmmmmm , well all I can say is on my 1.9d the pulley disintergrated (will try and get a pic) and sheared off the shaft, and I need a new one. Just in the process of trying top get the alternator off. Haynes says 2 bolts and pull it off, but I cant see how to get it ouit without 3 bolts and removing the rad (or power steering pump).... grrrrr . Never as easy as it seems (but as hard as I expected).

It's rare, but I've heard of alternator pulleys disintegrating before.

The last time I needed to remove an alternator, it was indeed a 2 bolt fixing, one very long one through the 2 lugs on the block and the alternator, and one conventional one through the other alternator lug and the adjuster quadrant.

Well, I´m a bit stumped. I have undone the top bolt but cant withdraw it as the tensioner pulley is blocking its exit. The question is how to remove the tensioner pulley and arm withoput stripping the engine down? I´m feeling very discouraged and it too early for a beer.

http://briskoda.net/favorit-felicia-fun-forman/felicia-1-9d-pulley-broke/96414/

I am not alone.... off to take photos and try with a fresh perspactive..... mmm

All I can say atm is that, if you remove all the alternator bolts you can, there should be sufficient "wiggle room" to get the other one out unless it's a fixed lug and behind the tensioner, in which case you might need to remove that too?

OK - success - got alternator off. Unfortunately the macro mode on my camera is knackerd so i couldnt get any useful photos, but will write up my cack handed method in a new post. Brutal but effective.