Noisey Pulley / Tensioner

john-wingnut

john-wingnut

Active Member
Im not quite sure which part is the offender, but its either the alternator pulley or the Poly belt tensioner.

Its making a nasty noise. Seems to be wosre at 1400rpm

Anyone on here changed either of those parts and if so any advise on doing so?

Will likely start with the pulley and belt as the tensioner is £80 eeeeeeeeeek,

John
 
Hi John i think grim reaper had a noisy alternator pulley that eventually broke. If i remember correct it requires a special tool to remove / fit. sorry cant help more. Would tony's donor A2 have a usable one you could try? good luck mike
 
This was my worry.

It only started today and sounds nasty. I dont want it to break lol!!!

I will PM him

John
 
Hi John yes Mike was correct something like what you have described happened to me

http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?11167-Help-wanted

the pulley can be removed in place but you do need a spiecal tool from Audi at about £10 which allows you to pass a muti-torx/spline drive through the tool to lock the shaft, i bought this said tool but didn't think i would have much use for it a let Mike (Skipton) have it as he may have more use than me and suppose i could allways get it back if need;)

Phil
 
Cheers Phil

I have managed to get a tool set for £30 which isnt too bad.
Got a new belt for £12 and INA Pulley for £35

That solves what I am doing tomorrow morning lol

I noticed in the pic you posted there was lots of brown dust on your alternator, from inside the pulley by the looks of it, which is exactly how mine looks.

Di you change your tensioner?

John
 
I have got the pulley off, but it looks ok :S

However the tensioner roller bearing is completely shot - lots of play.

Now to me £70 to replace the tensioner is pointless as its only the bearing thats dead.
 
WP_20130222_003.jpgWP_20130222_004.jpg

Does this look like its worn? Looks good to me, but im not expert.

John
 
edit to above - the pulley is shot.

Basically there are two ways for them to fail.

1) they burn them selves out due to the internal clutch slipping in both directions. They then end up destroying them selves.
2) they seize in both directions which then causes excess strain on the belt tensioner and in turn destroys the tensioner as it wears the bearings

All explained in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyosuYbPxr4

No.2 is what has happened to me. Another £70 outlay.

Another interesting observation - my tensioner pulley had melted bits of belt on it.

John
 
Complete result today.

Phoned round TPS, Euro, Unipart etc etc and then GSF.

GSF came up trumps with OEM INA Tensioner for £45, one left in stock!!!!

A nice saving of £35 as its £80 from the other places and none of them had stock.

All sorted and car sounds healthy again :)

John
 
Glad you got sorted even though my pulley came off completely the tensioner was completely fine. Not sure about yours but from me hearing the bearing noise this failed very quickly like 3 to 4 days one of the down sides of not having the bonnet up to do oil and water

Phil
 
I had my tensioner replaced on 04 Tdi 90 120k miles after driving around for some time with it vibrating madly. Did a sharp left turn after a 70 mile run up the A34 and the alternator pulley came off with a bang. Battery charging light came on briefly then belt re-engaged with pulley shaft. Apparantly, the alternator pulley slides onto a sleeve which, in turn, slides onto the alternator shaft. The vibration of the tensioner in its death throes, splits the sleeve. the pulley gradually works loose and eventually slides off the sleeve and shaft. Result, new alternator. So, moral of this tale, change tensioner at first sign of distress.
 
David113 said:
I had my tensioner replaced on 04 Tdi 90 120k miles after driving around for some time with it vibrating madly. Did a sharp left turn after a 70 mile run up the A34 and the alternator pulley came off with a bang. Battery charging light came on briefly then belt re-engaged with pulley shaft. Apparantly, the alternator pulley slides onto a sleeve which, in turn, slides onto the alternator shaft. The vibration of the tensioner in its death throes, splits the sleeve. the pulley gradually works loose and eventually slides off the sleeve and shaft. Result, new alternator. So, moral of this tale, change tensioner at first sign of distress.
Click to expand...

This is the same thing happened to me but i didn't need an alternator you just remove the rest of whats left of the pulley and just fit the new one

Phil
 
Another thing crossed off the refurb list:

Having replaced the alternator pulley the squeakiness at idle has gone. The pulley freewheel mechanism had siezed solid. The tensioner movement is also significantly reduced - before it was moving about 25mm, whereas now its less than 10mm. Is this normal?

Stealth on Thursday for cruise & remap :)

Thanks

John
 
my A2 has just come back from a cambelt kit/water pump change and while they were on i asked them to change the alternator belt.

it has an advisory that the pulley was seized so will need doing, can anybody advise on a rough costing for this job please.
 
When they say seized what pulley? Plus if it's the one on the alternator then how are you getting charge? In my opinion anything that's seized should be replaced not let go out. If it is the pulley on the end of the alternator and it's the multi V one think there about 50 quid

Cheers Phil
 
I had the same issue last year alternator freewheel pulley had seized(the clutch part of it Phil) This causes the tensioner to to rattle back and forth making the belt slap around, which makes quite an interesting noise to try and explain. I was a kind of rattling whine which changed depending on the engine speed or electrical load when you put the heater or lights on.

I bought it from ECP choice of 2 makes the guy said the INA pulley was OEM for £33 and there was a cheaper one I cant remember how much. The tensioner was fine however I changed them both. It was £55 INA which was also OEM had identical marking and the space where to logo could be pressed.

I had left mine rattle for a few month and there was dust and crap all over the alternator probably where the pulley had overheated a few times. To remove it the splinned nut was so damm tight I couldn't budge it. I took it to a local garage and give it a blast of the windy gun (it does say on the instruction not to but it made easy work of it) It was worth a fiver.

An Indy quoted me £200 including parts btw

Hope this helps

Nige
 
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