Out of the blue when I started the Defender I got a squeaking sound that sounded like the serpentine belt slipping. This sound got much worse when I gave the car some revs and put some pressure on the steering wheel. I could also feel some pulsating through the steering wheel in parallel with the increased noise.
I noticed the belt was a bit loose, so applied some more pressure with the tensioner. All was well for 10 minutes or so, then the noise started coming back.
I've now also noticed that when revving the vehicle, all pulleys on the serpentine belt are fine, except what I believe to be the power steering pulley (below the alternator?). It basically stops even thought the belt and all other pulleys keep turning, and the squeaking noise gets much worse.
Am I right in suspecting there's an issue with the power steering pump/pulley, or have I not tensioned the belt enough.
Take the serpentine belt off and turn the pump pulley by hand in the correct direction. It should be reasonably easy and smooth in operation. If it isn't, then get it checked out. If it's ok, then the culprit is the spring in the belt tensioner, which has lost sufficient 'spring' to keep the big belt transmitting power to the pump. Don't use belt dressing as it makes the situation worse.
(PS The manual tension device is for the AC belt - take it back to normal so you don't overwork those bearings.)
Well, I removed the tensioner pulley and I believe that's where the problem lies - there's no tension. The steering pump pulley also turns smoothly.
After inspecting the pulley, I now understand that there's no way (or need) to manually adjust it, given that it's spring loaded. Is this correct?
You can see in the photos that the spring hasn't pushed the pulley all the way to the end of it's travel. Am I on the right track here? And if so, how much to replace?
So, I go to put the pulley back on the see if I can get some play in the spring, and now the stud to attach the tensioner to the motor can't find a proper thread to turn into!
The thread on the stud looks fine, so I'm fearing there's a problem with the thread where the stud screws into (whatever that's called).
Just got the tensioner pulley replaced under warranty (lucky to have MR Auto 5 minutes down the road!). Now just waiting for my mate to turn up with his tap set to fix the thread, and hopefully all will be good in the world again.
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