Thread: tdi serpentine belt

Hi Edddo,

I have an original belt on ATM which is squeaking, after listening closely I thought the squeak was coming from the water pump a little silicone spray or CRC on the edge of the belt quickly stopped the noise but it would soon return but after taking off the belt and checking I found it starting to fray on the motor edge, so a quick phone call to MR Autos and a chat with harry advised the possible causes to be the following,

The power steering pump pulley could be loose, apparently these can move up to 1/2 an inch in and out without showing any signs of the pump leaking, the only way to check is take off the belt and see if there is in in and out movement, there should be none or

the belt tensioner if it jumps around alot is possibly stuffed and running out of alignment causing the possible premature wear

the tensioner is much cheaper than the PS pump, about $175 for the tensioner, I didn't dare ask how much for the PS pump

I think the tensioner is my prob as it is jumping around a fair bit, but I will be just putting on a new belt for the next couple of weeks, as I have the vac pump to fix first as it is really leaking badly, then I will replace the tensioner or check and pray it's not the PS pump.

Only use standard belts, My 300tdi doesnt like Dayco belts either, when mine was doing exactly the same thing it was the tensioner pulley, I went through 2 dayco's and 2 LR belts before replacing the tensioner and fitted another dayco which split down the middle so I fitted a LR belt which has now done about 80,000kms with no probs.

Just take the belt off and check all the pulleys and then if all is well then replace the tensioner as even if they look good they can still be stuffed.

belts aint belts gentlemen...

the nails been hit fair and sqaure on the head with the round ribs vs the mini V's

Rovers are set up to take the mini v's and will eat the rounded ones... (so too will some holdens btw)

the width of the rounded bumps at their base is more than the width of the V's so they can ride up and shimmy a little. IF your engine is perfectly aligned you wont see much difference.. But if something is out a little it can effect the round ribs but not the mini v's...

Same deal ass about, IF your set up for the rounded bumps and fit a v belt it will be eaten not the same way but for about the same reasons...

Just my two cents for what its worth, my serp. belt was starting to split so put a new one on it. Started it up and it made a godawful rattling squeaking noise. Thought the w-pump was going. Took belt off and checked all the pulleys, all seemed fine. Had already replaced the 3 bearings on all the idlers/tensioners. Mechanics at work had a look too; couldn't find anything. Noise goes away when motor warms up after a couple of minutes. Bloke at work said try giving it a spray with some water. Instantly stopped the noise. Tried another new belt from my landy man, same noise, slightly better. Consensus is there is a slight misalignment somewhere that causes the belt noise which is amplified by the pulleys etc. Cant see anything by eye, belt is running on the pulleys properly. My tensioner jumps around a bit too so could be worth investigating. Just putting up with it at moment, bloody annoying though.