Citroen Dispatch 2.0hdi eating ancillary belts

[Sara01]

Help, my dispatch crew van give up on me at the weekend , after having it looked at it transpired that the ancillary belt shredded and was drawn into the timing belt , it smashed the crankcase sensor and cut the engine out , my garage think the engine is not damaged, and is going to fit a new timing belt and sensor , then to try and start it before doing any more work , there doesn't seem to be any apparent reason for this happening, any advice would be appreciated, many thanks Les

[wheeler]

When you say ancillary belts has it done it before? Serpentine belts don’t usually break or shred for no reason so there will likely be an underlying fault with one of the pulleys it runs on though this may not be immediately noticeable till a new belt is on it. Usually there is some form of damage when the timing belt breaks or jumps on this engine but you could be lucky.

[Sara01]

Hi thanks , this is the second one in 6 weeks, the first one snapped in 2 , this one has shredded and ended up inside the timing belt , the timing belt didn't snap, although pulleys tensioner and idler pulley all seem good , complete mystery.

[moizeau]

I had this on my 406 a few years ago. It actually snapped the bolt on the tensioner aswell.......several times. Very hard to find the route cause. I even changed the tensioner to no avail. Turned out to be the power steering pump intermittently locking up due to a failing, but not failed, bearing. I'd manually spun all pulleys several times and didn't find a problem. Then I spun then in reverse and fortunately it showed up. Could be any of them, steering, AC, alt, idler of tensioner.

[andy5]

I agree with above post

On my Xantia, the alternator was partly or intermittently seizing, and the drag on its pulley melted the belt.

[chunky2778]

Is the belt vibrating or sort of 'twanging' as it rotates, with the tensioner jumping more than it should do? If so it could be the alternator clutch pulley if it has one, you should rotate the alternator by hand and then grab it suddenly, you should still feel the alternator shaft rotating briefly, if not the alternator pulley is seized.

Also check that the belt is being routed properly.

[Sara01]

Thanks will check that out , its doing my head in