Xantia 1.9TD aux belt squealing

Ciaran · Unread post by **Ciaran** » 05 Apr 2007, 18:20

Afternoon folks

I was wondering if anyone could give a bit of advice on this.
I have a '95 Xantia 1.9TD SX, which has been off the road for a while as it has no MOT etc. Anyway, yesterday, we charged the battery, and started it up, brought it down the drive for a bit of a cleanup etc.

There was no problem with that. However, I went to start it again this afternoon, and it has developed an unbearable squealing from the auxilary belt, which drives the alternator and hydraulic pump as far as I can see. The car has no aircon, so no compressor is there to complicate things.

Upon inspection, the belt appears to be turning the pulleys fine, including the tensioner pulley(?) which is pressed against the back of it. However, it is squealing like mad. It has done this once or twice in the past when very cold, but normally a little rev stops it, and the sound normally vanishes when the engine has warmed up. Not so in this case, the squealing just gets louder to the point where I have to turn the engine off as its so unbearably piercing!

Worryingly, the belt is hot to the touch after the engine is switched off, indicating that it is definately slipping somewhere, but I really can't see how / where. Has anyone else ever experienced this problem?
I guess I could try tensioning it.... if I knew how... the damn Haynes book has gone walkies...

Anyone's thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Ciarán.

AndersDK · Unread post by **AndersDK** » 05 Apr 2007, 18:50

Might simply be the battery is really low on capacity which means the alternator is heavily loaded right from start.
Easy test : jump start cables on the battery. If the squealing stops you know the alternator is then resting a bit. Battery could of course very well have retired during the stand period.

A good spray of silicone spray on the belt (silicone spray is NOT a lube but a rubber conditioner) will instantly give the belt a better grip.
Since the belt is a multirib type its designed to run REALLY tight.
Worth checking/adjusting the tension.

After a couple of hours since the engine has stopped (and no charge on the battery) check the battery voltage with a voltmeter. Should read at least 12.5V. If down at some 10-11'ish volts, then one cell has shorted in the battery.

Ciaran · Unread post by **Ciaran** » 05 Apr 2007, 22:20

Hi Anders.

Thanks for that. What you say actually makes a lot of sense, because the battery is quite low still. It has had one of those solar powered chargers on it all winter, and while that has kept it topped up a little, it didnt have enough capacity to crank the engine more than a few turns yesterday, and we ended up having to put a mains charger on it for a few hours. Even then, it did not recieve a full charge, and struggled to start. I'll test the battery with a voltmeter in the morning and charge / replace it accordingly.
Many thanks for your reply

Ciarán.

Stewart(oily) · Unread post by **Stewart(oily)** » 08 Apr 2007, 09:17

I have replaced a lot of tensioner pulleys over the years on Xantia diesels, they can make an awful racket.
Stewart

Ciaran · Unread post by **Ciaran** » 08 Apr 2007, 12:12

Hi Stewart,

I presume the tensioner pulley is the one in the middle?
I thought a pully might be jammed, but when I look at them with the engine running, they all appear to be rotating freely, which I cant understand, as something is obviously making it slip.
I haven't yet had a chance to get near it and try charging up the battery, hopefully will over the weekend though.

Cheers.

Ciarán.

Stewart(oily) · Unread post by **Stewart(oily)** » 08 Apr 2007, 13:16

Its a small job to take the tensioner pulley off, two 6mm allen bolts from under the wheelarch (one in the middle of the pulley) and one coming up vertically, it is worth copper greasing the bolts throughly for later, give it a spin, they can be very rough and noisy without actually wobbling about.
Stewart