Help - BX TD with aircon, noisy belt idler

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Bob Smith
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Help - BX TD with aircon, noisy belt idler

Post by Bob Smith »

The idler (not the tensioner) for the belt driving the air con pump and alternator on my BX turbo diesel has become very noisy and needs to be replaced.
I've just been to the local Cit dealer and the replacement is over £100! [:0]
It looks as if the actual bearing could be replaced at a much lower cost. Anyone done this or offer any words of wisdom?
Bob S
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Post by vanny »

mine is doing this, it sounds worse than a slipping belt, but when you look at it the belt moves in time with all the other pulleys just not the idler. Having heard that as a price it doesnt sound good, though it might be worth asking the local motor factor. The solution to mine was a huge amount of WD40 down the back of the pulley but it only lasted about two weeks before screaching again, mines died as its being abused in a rather terrible fasion, until i put an aircon pump on it it's staying like that though!
Looks like an engine out job to do as well :(
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

The common pulley bearing killer : it dries out from the "ever lasting" grease.
Try mix up some standard grease with engine oil, then using a syringe try hit the bearing with the mix.
That will give you some time.
It's no problem replacing the bearing itself - but it takes some time with car grounded. All the bearings I've found on the BX have an industrial standard type counterpart.
I believe your odds are high on this pulley too.
Is this pulley the same as found on the 16/19 non-A/C pet's ?
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Post by Kowalski »

I've quietened bearings down before just by taking them apart and regreasing them, the sealed type you can usually do by taking off the dust covers and injecting oil in.
As long as the bearing "cage" is undamaged, the bearings will most probably be fine with a little greasing, if not I'm sure you could go to your local bearing supplier and get a set of suitable bearings.
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Post by bernie »

Bob
On my retro fit a/c (using 16v parts) I was trying to work out the position of the pulley when I spied Tom Sheppard's jobbie.
He did'nt fit the pulley at all, just a shorter belt around crank,alternator and a/c pump.
So my advise is dump the pulley and get a shorter belt (mine was £8)
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Post by alan s »

I fitted a shorter belt on my 16V but unfortunately on them, the belt takes on a triangular configuration when you do and as a result doesn't make enough contact area on some of the pulleys, as a result, it squeals like hell.
As has been suggested, a good clean up (and possibly a magnifying glass) will show a part number on the inner cone but this number may not necessarily match the numbers at the local SKF dealer but often the first two digits points them in the right direction.
My son recently did a conversion to twin cam on a Nissan motor and needed another tensioner to be fitted. He bought one off the shelf from a local parts supplier after giving the approximate dimensions of what was required and I'll swear it's the one for a BX16V but being in Australia, there's no way in the World this guy would be stocking one of those, so obviously the idlers and tensioners we use are a fairly common item in the bearing manufacturers world.
I'm sure if you took the old one in along with the measurements, a decent stockist should be able to come up with a replacement.
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Post by Bob Smith »

No one warned me that the thread on the bearing inner is left hand [:(!] as a result I actually managed to shatter the inner part of the race [:(] . However, it mattered little as the aircon didn't work anyway.
So I've made up a new tensioner for the alternator and fitted a shorter belt and now it's ever so quiet. It appears that the nut on the end of the alternator was a bit loose and the noises were coming from the pulley/fan contact.
For the record the bearing can be easily checked for grease if you manage to remove it without wrecking it, the dust seals will just push off to reveal the bearing cage.
Bob
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