Alternator drive belt tensioner

[RITCHAT]

Alright lads. Has anybody had a problem with the tensioner on the 1.4 tdi alternator auxillary belt. I had my car in to do the cambelt and water pump today and was advise d that the tensioner is noisy and it is common place with the tdi engine. It doesn't need to be changed at this stage but it alarms me after 76.5 k miles that this part is due to fail at some stage in the future. I will be changing it at the earliest opportunity as I don't want bounce in my belt as it was described.

Any comments welcome on this.

Cheers

Sandy

[K.I.T.T.]

Hey Sandy,

Sure it's not just the belt? Then again, it could also be the alternator pulley...

Here's a couple of threads I quickly dug up:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.ph ... +tensioner

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.ph ... +tensioner

It's worth having a search on there, but the pulleys are reknowned for playing up after a while.

Ash

[yorks GT TDI]

never the tensioner alway alternator pully take it to somewere that knows what they are doing

[RITCHAT]

Cheers Ash I thought that I would get an answer from yourself an you are correct along with yorks gti with your answer I am going to vw tomorrow with the water pump that was changed nothing wrong with it other than a small spot of corrosion but they do recommend replacing seeing as the belt is off anyway and for the sake of 30quid its worth it. On the water pump I thought that they had changed the plastic internal wheel to metal or am I wrong in this I am sure I had read this somewhere. Will be getting the new parts tomorrow and will fit them on Monday all going well.

Next stage of the modifications about to begin. first a remap I have done a bit of research and still not convinced where to fgo to as they all seem to be similar. I am looking to get the car in the 100 to 105 bhp area so I don't need to start changing engine components, however that will be happening later poss next year defo not this year.

Any advice on the best place to go is welcome as recommendations go a long way.

[K.I.T.T.]

Ask them to do the timing belt tensioner too if it's not included with the timing belt change...on tdiclub.com I've seen numerous reports of engines going boom due to tensioner failure, in spite of having the belt done. And yep, the revised water pump should have a metal impeller opposed the the plastic ones they used before.

Regarding a remap, I had mine done by custom code back in March 2008...at the time they had a 30% off offer and it came out to under £250 and they visited me to do it. Not sure if the offer is still on, but just thought I'd share my experience with custom code. Never had a problem and it transformed the car...at the time that is. I've now gotten used to (bored with, even) 100 odd ponies under the hood.

~150 BHP and ~340 Nm can be gotten out of it, but then you have to go mucking about with turbos, injectors, gearbox / clutch / flywheel and driveshaft. I priced it up and it came to ~ £1k in parts. No one's done it in the UK yet, but I'm not sure it'd be worth the hassle. Probably wiser for me to just keep it the way it is for another 2 years and upgrade to a faster car.

Ash

[RITCHAT]

Ask them to do the timing belt tensioner too if it's not included with the timing belt change...on tdiclub.com I've seen numerous reports of engines going boom due to tensioner failure, in spite of having the belt done. And yep, the revised water pump should have a metal impeller opposed the the plastic ones they used before.

Regarding a remap, I had mine done by custom code back in March 2008...at the time they had a 30% off offer and it came out to under £250 and they visited me to do it. Not sure if the offer is still on, but just thought I'd share my experience with custom code. Never had a problem and it transformed the car...at the time that is. I've now gotten used to (bored with, even) 100 odd ponies under the hood.

~150 BHP and ~340 Nm can be gotten out of it, but then you have to go mucking about with turbos, injectors, gearbox / clutch / flywheel and driveshaft. I priced it up and it came to ~ £1k in parts. No one's done it in the UK yet, but I'm not sure it'd be worth the hassle. Probably wiser for me to just keep it the way it is for another 2 years and upgrade to a faster car.

Ash

I asked them if they had the upgraded one and this was what they sent through so poss they have reverted back to plastic. there was nothing wrong with the one I had looks perfect.

The timing belt kit came with the new tensioner so all is well I hope.

I am not interested in going daft I have read about people having 150 bhp + in the 1.4tdi and finding the engine can't take it. I am looking for it to have a bit more oomph even although since the belt has been changed it seems to be more responsive poss the belt was well worn. It also seems to be lower in the revs when sitting at 56 its pulling about 2000 so might see animprovement on mpg. I am away this weekend so GOOD TRIP for it and I will see how she gets on.