Thread: Want to sort out the notorious 300 tdi belt squeal!!

as said with the power steering I would take off the belt and check all pulleys......

the other thing I had also found after changing a few of my pulleys which needed changing due to wear.....a little while after my belt began to squeak again especially on start up..and what we found was the serpentine belt I was using although it was a good quality belt had a shinney back to it we changed it for a dayco belt which has a rough back and no more squeaks ever again..the tensioner was having issues gripping the belt which was making it chirp

How did you go with the coin trick , Mine has been quiet for 2 years and about 60,000 ks

Surely the coin trick only works if the tensioner is misaligned.

If the tensioner puller was running true, wouldn't the coin just create the same sort of misalignment (in the opposite direction) as a worn tensioner pivot, thereby creating a squeak rather than eliminating it.

I tried the coin trick yesterday and it certainly quietened mine a lot though I need to check the power steering pulleys to be safe. On a long drive yesterday the sound was not evident at all, prior to this it sounded atrocious.

Originally Posted by vnx205

Surely the coin trick only works if the tensioner is misaligned.

If the tensioner puller was running true, wouldn't the coin just create the same sort of misalignment (in the opposite direction) as a worn tensioner pivot, thereby creating a squeak rather than eliminating it.

Of course what happens when the tensioner is worn and the rubber with in it has compressed it only prolongs what will eventually be a total replacement of the tensioner , But as i say mine has been quiet for 2 years with the coin trick , So for me it has been more than a tempory fix

Sure its not just the serentine belt. Mine was driving me nuts with the noise. The belt looked ok and was only 2yrs old. Replaced with new - now peace and quiet. It sounds like a new car again! It probably was doing it for a while?

well i did the coin trick yesterday and put in new bearing it was completely silent for about 2 minutes then the chirp started again, but absolutely no where near as bad as it was before. whether this was due to the new bearing or the coin who knows?

The drive belt is new, fitted march this year and done at landrover, so presumably a genuine part.

the power steering pump was replaced 2 years/23000k ago so hpefulley this is still good and on checking the pulley seemed fine to me.

Also be aware that there is two different belt lengths for 300 tdi's. The early models used a 1595mm long belt. Later models used a 1580mm long belt. You can do a search & it will tell you by VIN when the change occurred.