Auto tensioner lasts how long?

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swiss_steve
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Post by swiss_steve »

To throw my hat in the ring - I've got similar problems with my car right now.....

Last weekend I replaced the auto-tensioner - not an easy job as you have to remove the hydraulic pump and alternator to get the tensioner mounting bracket out of the car to replace the idle wheel/spring mechanism. But that's another story...

The auto-tensioner has a 10mm (or 3/8") square socket in the tensioner arm, and the only way you can get enough movement on the rachet is to remove the CPU box, and if necessary, the plastic engine mount cover as well. If you really want more room to swing the ratchet, I found that raising the engine with the top mount off was the way to go (IMHO)....

Even with this new auto-tensioner, the belt still flaps quite a lot at idle and I've still got an unusual squealing sound (I'm checking out the harmonic balancer/crankshaft pulley this weekend)....
Proud owner of two Citroens:-
'R' reg 1998 Xantia 1.9 TD Temptation Estate.
'N' reg 1996 ZX 1.9 TD Aura Estate.
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Post by RichardW »

Funnily enough mine is doing this - tensioner banging on the timing cover - it makes a hell of a racket at cold start. It is not a common failure on UK cars - I have not heard it before (and I can hear and recognise an XUD coming before I see it :oops: ). The tensioner costs around the same £80 here in the UK - I helped my mate change one, but that was because the bearing was noisy rather than the spring knackered. It is worse on mine since I fitted an aftermarket belt rather than the Lemforder OE one (I had a 1690 from GSF but that wasn't going near. A 1710 went on OK) - I have it adjusted to just stop it squealing, which helps to minimise the noise from the tensioner - perhaps in hot countries the belts just get too floppy and flap about, causing the spring the go soft?

I guess I should change the tensioner, but that's £80 and half a days work, and I'm hoping to get an HDi soon.

Needs new glowplugs as well, and the MOT is not far away :roll:
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Post by weety »

i knackered one driving through a very deep puddle....little bit of water into it and watch your bearing go.........
M reg xantia 1.9td 266000 miles expired
R reg xantia 1.9td 186000 miles veggy power expired
L reg renault clio 1.9D 91000 miles expired at 107000 miles
x reg clio 15d veggy power bottom of the car rotted through
06 c5 2.2 TD wowser so much power and comfort 160000 miles
JohnCKL
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Post by JohnCKL »

perhaps in hot countries the belts just get too floppy and flap about, causing the spring the go soft?
Perhaps, or it could be the tensioner itself going soft in the heat. Maybe a longer belt should keep the tension low and preserve the tensioner strength. Mine is a 1400 with Ac, maybe too tight.
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Post by f00lzz »

JohnCKL wrote:
perhaps in hot countries the belts just get too floppy and flap about, causing the spring the go soft?
Perhaps, or it could be the tensioner itself going soft in the heat. Maybe a longer belt should keep the tension low and preserve the tensioner strength. Mine is a 1400 with Ac, maybe too tight.
If, as I suspect, you mean a 1700... then yes it is too tight which will pretty soon destroy your tensioner bearing causing the belt to shred and the possibility of the belt remnants entering the cambelt cover and causing the cambelt to break !!!!!
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Post by JohnCKL »

Stewart - have a look at the Quinton Hazell catalogue - I think the belt dimensions are coded in their number - QA - R(ibbed)6(number of ribs)1360(length in mm)

http://www2.qha.com/catalogues/QH02.pdf
Thanks for the site. Very useful. Different years, different lengths of belt. 1993-6/95 is 1700, 7/95-01 Harrison is 1738 and 7/95-01 Sanden is 1725. Mine is a 96, so should be longer belt, with Sanden, its 1725 then. No wonder our tensioners are quitting early. Too much tension with a tight 1700 belt.
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Post by xantiaBFY »

this is very interesting. will be checking my belt soon. JohnCKL...have you got the new belt?

:D
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Post by JohnCKL »

xbfy, no, haven't change mine yet. Will do it soon.
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Post by Mike Pratt »

Just to let you guy's know, I had the same flappy aux belt and noisey tensioner on my Xantia hdi. I initailly changed the tensioner and things improved for a while, though I noticed that the flaping belt (bottom run) was still present. Further investigation revealled that the crankshaft pulley, which is a two part pulley, had gone out of round. That is to say, the outer had gone off centre and as the pulley rotated it increased, then decreased the aux belt tension. This intern led to the aux belt tensioner to wearing excessively and the belt to flap around (which can be noisey at idle). You shoud consider this as the cranksahft pulley is famous for failing at around 90K.

Good luck.
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Post by jeremy »

Easy check for the bottom pully having separated is to put a line (paint or chalk across the 2 bits and look and see if its straight after the car has been driven.

If you paint it on you can check it in the future just by looking for example whenever you change the oil.
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davek-uk
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Post by davek-uk »

I still haven't checked mine.

I was going to change it when I did the timing belt recently. But the one GSF gave me was for an HDI - and it didn't fit!

On calling GSF and then returning the HDI crank pulley, both branches say they don't do a bonded pulley for the 1.9TD. Does anyone know if the older solid pulleys and the newer bonded pulleys are interchangeable?
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Post by Stewart(oily) »

I have a non bonded pulley from my BX TZD, it will fit in place of the bonded one but is slightly smaller in diameter than the bonded item and a lot lighter.
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Post by davek-uk »

Thanks Stewart. I guessed an older one would fit; but without checking I wasn't sure about the grooves for the aux belt and the diameter. The rubber ring on my pulley still appears fairly solid but the rubber is cracking. I did take the opportunity to score some reference marks across it while it was off but I haven't checked them yet.
Pug Rifter long (20) - 41mpg - Gutsy for a 1.5!
Xantia 1.9 TD Temp.2 Break (97) - 208K@42mpg - Resting again.
Berlingo Multispace 1.6 16v (51) - 184K@36mpg - My shed! Still runs 15° retarded...
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Post by jeremy »

Nice calculation there to work out how long the belt should be with a smaller pulley - and of course if the slower auxilliaries will cause problems!
jeremy
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