Rossco 0 Posted January 22, 2004 Right it seems that this pulley on my 1.8 16valve is a bit of a poor piece of kit, old one startd chattering so i bought a new one from the stealers(£40) and within a week it had started chattering(and yes it is deffo the pulley) Crap!!! Im gonna go back with this one but from what people on here have been sayin that they always break and that they are fragile, so i was wondering if anyone knew where i could get a better one or get a better one made up? Cheers guys 8) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevef 0 Posted January 22, 2004 Oh dear. I had a Mk2 16 valve on which this pulley had failed. I too purchased a £40 replacement but I noticed a second problem before I fitted mine. The broken pulley had battered the PAS pulley so that its belt didn't run central to the double pulley. In fact, on removal, the PAS pulley was ground away on one side and bent. This costs £17 I think. Check for this if you can. I didn't have any problems after I replaced both pulleys for the following 2 years I had the car Good luck! SteveF Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henny 0 Posted January 23, 2004 yeah, I seem to remember changing BOTH pulleys on a mate's after I'd done mine on my 16V 'rado... 8) There was definate signs of wear on the PAS pulley 'cos the idler had battered the hell out of it! :? Having read about this a bit more, I think I was lucky in that I broke mine replacing the cam belt and P/S belt, so didn't re-fit it afterwards and got away with just replacing the one pulley... :? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rossco 0 Posted January 23, 2004 how do you mean you only replaced the one pulley? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henny 0 Posted January 23, 2004 The idler pulley (the £40 one) has another pulley that runs along side it (on the outside IIRC, it's a while since I messed with a 16V) I only had to change the idler one, not the other one as well... If the idler dies completely, then it has a habit of bending the other pulley when it dies... This then pretty quickly kills the new idler pulley when you fit it... :roll: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rossco 0 Posted January 23, 2004 Ah i see that could be the problem then eh, shit cheers man i never even thought of that i will have a looky at that and check it out Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davidwort 0 Posted January 23, 2004 The idler pulley (the £40 one) has another pulley that runs along side it (on the outside IIRC, it's a while since I messed with a 16V) I only had to change the idler one, not the other one as well... If the idler dies completely, then it has a habit of bending the other pulley when it dies... This then pretty quickly kills the new idler pulley when you fit it... :roll: I've noticed some cars (1.8's made after a certain date) and all 2.0 16v's seem to have an alternative pulley and belt arrangement, where the idler pulley is replaced by a fixed one and the PS belt goes around that instead of the alternator belt (thinks that's the arrangement) I wonder if it would be better to change to the 2.0 16v arrangement and buy several new pulleys to do it, rather than keeping the (flawed) original arrangement, VW obviously decided the original (golf 2 16v) layout was a problem. David. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted January 23, 2004 You can weld the idler pulley together. I did on one of my valvers with no adverse affects. I was fed up with replacing the pulleys all the time. They're complete crap, they just flop in half in your hands with bits of cardboard like material falling on the floor. Utter rubbish. Back in 1998, those pulleys were £120 a pop :x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites