Xantia screeching fan belt

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 30 May 2009, 17:01

hi guys

my car has been making this noise upon starting for the last few months but i passed it off and not having money to rectify it anyway..but now it has become worse and worse over time and the car is getting harder to start..sometimes not starting at all..as if the battery was flat..so now i have the money ..how do i go about replacing the belt or rectifying the problem

Thanks in adavance

MikeT · Post by **MikeT** » 30 May 2009, 18:56

Take a look, the belt may have shredded (like a cheese straw) and begun strangling the cam pulley et all. Could end in tears if not sorted asap.

In fact, it might already have caused unnecessary damage, making it a more expensive job so don't run the engine until it's fixed if possible.

What model is it by the way?

DickieG · Post by **DickieG** » 30 May 2009, 20:02

What Xantia are we talking of here, your TD or HDi?

Post by **myglaren** » 30 May 2009, 20:57

The screeching could also be the alternator bearings breaking up.

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 30 May 2009, 21:08

1998 mk 2 td ...for about 20 seconds it does this and then its gone

Post by **myglaren** » 30 May 2009, 21:18

Likely not the bearings if it is only on startup.

You could try some Belt Wax like the stuff here (Pro-Belt) if the belt tension is as it should be.

DickieG · Post by **DickieG** » 30 May 2009, 21:31

Start off with fitting a new auxiliary belt and if that fails to stop it then a worn crank pulley are more than likely the cause.

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 30 May 2009, 21:34

will do

any idea how much the belt would cost ..what about the crank pulley..i dont want to be spending much as i dnt have a lot to start out with..

DickieG · Post by **DickieG** » 30 May 2009, 22:04

The belt is under £10 from http://www.gsfcarparts.com/ but the pulley will be the best part of £100 (new).

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 31 May 2009, 14:48

I had a look at the belt and it seems fine ..but il leave it in to get 2nd opinion on it..i really needed to go off now but again there was 2 ticks from the alternator and not a kick out of the car as if the battery was completly dead

..im at my wits end

fred1 · Post by **fred1** » 31 May 2009, 17:31

Hi,

Sounds like the aux belt tensioner bearing. Need to replace the tensioner.

GSF stock them.

On the manually adjustable type it is easy to replace.

Not sure about the auto tensioning type.

Regards

John

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 31 May 2009, 19:17

XantiaDaveEire wrote:I had a look at the belt and it seems fine ..but il leave it in to get 2nd opinion on it..i really needed to go off now but again there was 2 ticks from the alternator and not a kick out of the car as if the battery was completly dead ..im at my wits end

Are you sure it's not the starter solenoid, a clonk sound without turn over usually would indicate that to be the problem.

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 31 May 2009, 20:03

no i had the bonnet up ..fiddling around ..and the aletrnator makes two clicks and then the dashboard lights up but when i go to start the car the dashboard goes out or the panel goes very dim ..i may leave it in to see..as it could be any amount of problems seeminly

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 31 May 2009, 20:40

I'd agree that it sounds like a duff battery then. Can you check the voltage? Batteries are strange things, when mine went last year it was perfectly ok one day and completely dead the next morning.

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 31 May 2009, 22:09

batterys not even a year old..the screech is still there unfortunately