Hdi aux drive belt tensioner

[hammerman]

I have an awfull screech,i think its the aux d belt tensioner,as if i spray some wd40 on the pully/tensioner,it goes away briefly.
I have never messed with it on mine,although doing some searching on here & my Haynes,if i remove the wheel arch liner & ecu box,access is improved.I`m willing to give replacing it ago.I had all the belts & tensioners replaced 3 yrs ago(if the REALLY did replace the tensioners )So would i be best to just change the tensioner,or get a whole kit & do the belt at the same time?Its also still got the original crank pulley,so maybe i should do that as well.
I dont know whether to have a go my self or take it to my plant workshop where the labour rate is £30 an hour & let them do it.Any help & advice would be great please.I know my way around cars,but just never done thes belts before.
Other than that,the car is running great after 5 yrs with me now.No other issues since i was last on here(touch wood )

[marty1979]

Where about's in Bristol are you based?

[gumby6371]

My general rule of thumb is if the belt is coming off anyway you might as well change it. They don't cost a lot and a new belt is a lot cheaper than fitting a used one which potentially fails early cos you've damaged it removing and refitting it. It then flails around the engine bay and takes the cam belt with it.

[hammerman]

Where about's in Bristol are you based?

Patchway,just off the A38.

[marty1979]

Assuming that the setup on the hdi is the same or similar to the 2.1, it's a fairly easy job to do, can be done in 30 min's or so. Wheel off, inner arch out, ecu box out. There's an automatic tensioner and an eccentric pulley, the spring loaded auto tensioner needs to be pulled back and locked with the use of a 5mm drill bit or similar, then the eccentric pulley underneath has to be released and swung around 180 degrees. The belt can then be removed and new one refitted. Obviously refitting is the revers of what had been done previously. I was going to offer that you could come around to my place to get it done as I've done it plenty of times before, I live in Ashton gate, but it really is so easy you should have no trouble sorting this yourself.

[hammerman]

How do you change the tensioners(S)?Once the belt is off,is it just a case of unbolting it & bolting on the new part/parts?

[Welly]

Very often just replacing the belt will stop all the noises, the 'floating' tensioner/roller is pretty reliable on the 406 and rarely gives any trouble. Might be an idea to just do the belt first and see what goes.

As far as the bottom pulley goes you will know when that's worn because the noise is so bad you won't want to drive the thing - look for a brownish dust and any metal filings/shards around that area.

[marty1979]

Might be an idea to just do the belt first and see what goes

I agree with the above. When I got my 2.1 the guy had just replaced the auxilary belt, I was very suprised when it started to squeal around 2k miles later, I thought it would be the tensioners. Anyway, I put another belt on and it sounded lovely but started flapping about after a couple of months and it started making noise again shortly after. So, when I changed the timing belt I put yet another drive belt on but whilst I was looking around the area of the pulleys I noticed the the eccentric pulley was at it's most slack position, meaning that the auto tensioner was almost at it's limit of providing any tension to the belt when the engine is running. I loosened the pulley and swung it around until it caused the greatest tension of the belt and it's been sound since. The guy who I bought the car must've forgot to re-adjust the pulley, which is why I was able to get the belts on and off without too much bother.

[hammerman]

Well,its had a slight squeek on & off for nearly a year.But the last week or so it squeeks all the time on tick over,yet goes away once over 1000 rpm.Or it did untill i sprayed some lubricant on it.Now its squeeking all the time.
Well,i`ll change just the belt tomorrow & see what its like,as a belt is around £20.But a whole kit is like £120 from ecp.But tentioners start around £30 on ebay.
I`ll do just the drive belt & report back tomorrow.
Thanks

[hammerman]

E C Parts,£21 for the belt.My local factors(who say they are cheaper tha ecp`s)£12 for the belt.Tensioner is £45 & they can get one within 2 hrs.So will try a belt in the morning.

[hammerman]

Very often just replacing the belt will stop all the noises

BINGO Just replaced the drive belt & no noise what so ever!!The hardest part was removing the wheel,wheel arch liner & ecu.To be honest,i would only remove the ecu & box next time for access.Now i might get a 2nd hand pas pump as my pas is not always so assisted.I suspect the pump but ECP want £170 or so,ebay £99 new.So i might get one from my scrappy & see if it makes any difference.
Thanks alot for the help & advice guys

[Welly]

Cool.

[bytecode]

I remember when doing my belts, I found that I couldn't remember the correct sequence around the various pulleys for the auxilary belt - it ended up slack. Luckily though, I'd taken a photograph of the correct fitting, so I was able to get it right in the end.