VR6 - emissions/MOT/alternator belt

[1977amm 0]

I took the old VR6 out to a council MOT station today hoping it would somehow sneak through. Things were looking up when a doddery old bloke took the job on.

 

However, all went wrong thereafter. It was obviously struggling on the emissions test (fast idle, approx 2k rpm) so he tried it again. On the second or third go, with the revs at approx 3k rpm the alternator belt pinged. MOT test abandoned. (sligt sense of relief as at first I feared it was the timing chain). Car was breakdown recovered to my house.

 

I'm mechanically ignorant so I have a few questions I was hoping someone could maybe offer some advice on.

 

1) any suggestions as to what might be causing the emissions problem? I have hardly used the car this year but it had a decent run out to the MOT station (30 miles or so). Oil temp was only in the low 70s for some reason though. Flew through its MOT last year but has done less than 1k miles since then.

 

2) I know that the alternator belt drives the PAS as well, but aside from that, am I risking any damage by driving the car a short distance to my favoured garage, only 2 miles or so. I assume that this is an easy fix? Could this be indicative of other problems or likely to just be cause the belt was worn? It was rattling a fair bit before it went.

 

All advice gratefully received, apologies if my questions seem daft.

 

Cheers

[raddo_tom 0]

Emissions just give her a damn good service inc a engine oil flush and pop a cat cleaner in the tank as it will burn ALOT CLEANER! Alt belt, do it before you drive it ANYWHERE!!

[Supercharged 2]

Belt is nice and easy to change, all you need is an M8 x 80mm bolt into the hole in the tensioner to de-tension then just fit the new one in place and wind the bolt back out - 5 min job!

 

Emmisions - you need to get it on VAGCOM to see what's going on, maybe Lambda broken or wires too it because of rear engine mount failure

[1977amm 0]

Thanks. Given that I'm not even remotely mechanically minded and have no tools, it's probably not a realistic option for me to try and replace the alt belt.

 

The breakdown guy removed the broken belt.

 

Will damage be caused if I drive it the short distance to the garage? I appreciate that it won't have PAS. I don't have access to VAGCOM either so I'll probably need to get them to check it out anyway.

 

Unless there's anyone competent in the Aberdeen area who's looking for an easy homer? The car is off the road and in my garage.

[dukest 0]

the main issue with the belt is that you wont be turning the water pump so the engine will not be getting cooled at all. whether it gets warm enough for that to be an issue or not is maybe unlikely but still a risk.