Aux belt tensioner removal and inspection

[pablo_vr6 0]

was out for an 80 mile or so run in the VR today and the car has developed a metallic whining sound from the tensioner area (beside air box at front of engine).

 

its directly related to engine speed and the belt is tight and in good condition (no fraying,cracks etc).

 

is it a common fault for this tensioner to go (80k miles) and is it easy to remove and inspect?

 

any tips appreciated

-pablo

[Supercharged 2]

Yep, the tensioner is about £60 from VAG but you can change the bearing seperatly yourself which will cost about a tenner or I think PhatVR6 was offering an exchange service on this...

 

http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7833

[stevemac 0]

Tensioner pulley should be changed whenever the belt is changed. 80k is quite a lot for a belt tensioner pulley - I suspect the bearings will be fcuked. If there's an idler pulley that the belt also runs on - change that too.

[pablo_vr6 0]

just pop the bugger off then and take a peek?

 

anything complicated about the operation or is it plug and play?

[pablo_vr6 0]

ok stripped it off and the wheel was a little stiff. dosed some wd40 in and it turns nice and smooth with no play but is making a grinding noise. not too bad in my hand but i guess its defo the source of the prob.

 

any thoughts? If I can get away with replacing the bearing sweet but where can I get one from? else Ill prob get one off the $tealer.

[Supercharged 2]

I think the link above says where to get one from, you just need to find a bearing specialist in your area, yellow pages?

[dr_mat 0]

The only drawback with doing the bearing swap is that the bearing fits *inside* the pulley, effectively, so you have to partially cut away the pulley to get the old bearing out and replace it.

It's possible, and I'm sure many people have done fine with it, but you may feel more comfortable with a new one.. As stated above, VW dropped the price recently to "only" £60+VAT, but that's a lot better than the previous £100++ !!

Of course, it would be best if VW would sell just the pulley itself, complete with bearing... But hey.. :)

[Supercharged 2]

Maybe cheaper from Ford? worth a try and they may also sell you just the pulley/bearing...

[dr_mat 0]

Sadly not, or at least, not last time I asked, anyway...

[GIXXERUK 0]

i changed the bearing in mine, not too much hassle and it worked fine,the only tricky bit is cutting the old bearing out

[pablo_vr6 0]

£6+vat for the bearing - has to be worth a shot alright!!!

[GIXXERUK 0]

borrowed mine from work :-)

[pablo_vr6 0]

well i may need to pinch a long M8 bolt :)

[GIXXERUK 0]

:-) i couldnt find one so i had the engineers at work make one

 

its paul isnt it ? with the audi TT gear surround :?:

[pablo_vr6 0]

lol yup :)

 

fecked if i know how Im gonna fit it but Ill figure something out :D

[GIXXERUK 0]

good price tho :-)

[pablo_vr6 0]

lol my max was £12 too. all the other guy had to bid was like 30p more ;)

 

whats the going rate on them?

[GIXXERUK 0]

an average is easy double that, with the bearing just make sure you scrape enough of the pulley away to get the bearing out and use a vice to ease it out with lots of wd40, the pulley feels brittle so i would imagine too much pressure and it'll shatter

i changed the belt while i was there £25 iirc although i try to forget the prices of what i buy :-(

[pablo_vr6 0]

belt looks mint so will reuse the same one. the noise started only yesterday and it didnt lose any tension so the belt should still be 100%.

 

I may even try greasing it just first and pick the bearing up tomorrow if that doesnt help it as its moving freely enough.

[GIXXERUK 0]

its a sealed bearing , surely grease wont help ? if it was summer it would be done now lol

mine was totally wasted , wobbling about like an asda trolley :-)

[pablo_vr6 0]

havent looked at the bearing yet just going by what the vortex guide said (and I only had a quick scan).

[GIXXERUK 0]

was it you messing with your heated seats recently ? if it was , do you know where the two wires go into the fuse box ? got the seats and i've got the loom (switch on its way ) just need to wire it in , fairly straight forward except where it goes into the fusebox

 

ta

[pablo_vr6 0]

sorry mate - I had factory ones and was only fixing the seat section as the wire had detached.

 

was on a longish drive yesterday and a heated ass was lush :)

[GIXXERUK 0]

toasty :-)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

You can repack the bearing with grease. Take the pulley off and then you can prize out the bearing seals (carefully) with small screwdriver or something. Stick some Castrol LM in there and work it round. Don't put too much in though or it will cake your bonnet and belt!