strange auxiliary belt noise

[juraj]

Hi all

Over the last few weeks my xantia has been making a slight squeaky noise, it would appear and then disappear, its been quite rare and not very noticeable, and would not stay for very long. Initially i thought it is a bearing perhaps, either the tensioner or the idle roller.

Yesterday the noise intensified and just stayed constantly on. So I went to have a listen to the various rollers with a long screwdriver and in trying to spray WD40 on the idler bearing, and by accident spraying the inside belt surface the noise went away! Strange the belt is in good condition, no cracks, why would spraying the belt make the noise disappear? This is no solution really as the WD40 will evaporate in a few minutes/days, what could be the underlying cause?

Has anyone had this experience, is it new belt time despite the belt looking in fine condition?

[ellevie]

The BX makes an intermittent squealing noise like a faulty bearing if the HP pump belt isn't REALLY tight.
It might be worth adjusting the belt tension to see if the noise goes away.

[juraj]

thanks ellevie

but the belt is not slipping, its not a high pitched squeal at higher revs, its just a squeaky squeak ! anyway i cant adjust the tension as the adjuster is automatic is spring loaded, unless the adjuster or tensioner itself is weak now and needs replacing, but the belt is quite tight, maybe not tight enough?

bye all

[masood_ilyas]

Juraj,
Colleague at work had a similar fault, he located it to the AC pulley which is integral to the AC pump. Does yours behave any different if AC is selected.
I have also recently experienced Aux belt fault which required replacing the tension roller. Its needle bearing had rusted badly which was causing squeaks, I ignored this to my cost when last week the tension roller failed causing Aux belt to shred. You may have sprayed the wd40 into the roller bearing which removed the squeak.

Hope it helps.

Masood

[juraj]

thanks masood,

hmm could be right,

but my A/C pump doe snever get engaged as the A/C system has some problems and swithching it on makes no difference to the pump,

i sprayed the wd40 from the top so there is not much chance it hit the tensioner roller, also i had agood look at the roller when i was changing oil and it is sealed so not much chance of wd40 getting in, in fact my can of wd40 was almost empty so all i got was a weak trickle and all i manged to hit was the alternator pulley thus wetting the working side of the belt

but yeah could be right i need to change the tensioner, do you know is it possible to just put in a new bearing? or does the whole assembly need changing

bye

juraj

[juraj]

i have just read about 4 or 5 ancient posts on this topic,

the reason why i consider my problem as strange is that initially when i started spraying the wd40, on account of an almost empty can i was only getting a few drops on the pulley, and the noise would go away momentarily, literally a few seconds, thus its obvious that the wd40 is not lubricating any failing bearings.

i think the wd40 is acting on the belt and pulley surface interaction. all bearings used involved eg alternator are sealed and lubricated for life, a few drops of wd40 wont get into the alternator, then past the seal of the bearing and wont make them quiet for a few second/minutes. anyway bearings tend to rumble not squeak if failing,

so my theory is that the squeal comes from the belt slipping on the pulleys, thus its vibrating, spraying wd40 makes the slippage more easy and vibration free.

in a couple of the posts i read , or one, there is talk of belt noise occurring from glazed, belts or pulleys or both, so i am thinking my problem is either a worn belt, despite its good looks or a glazed belt, have no idea why it would be so, anyway ill try replacing the belt and report,

ps i have had a few mysterious problems like this on the car, the car has only done 106K miles, but only about 9K in the last 4 years, these kind of phantom problems i have experienced in cars which have done very little mileage in the past few years, the car just sits there unused for ages, belts, rubbers, seals get stiff and lubricated and dry out, then a new owner buys it and starts to pile on the miles and the problems begin, often sorting themselves out once the components free up a bit but not always

bye all

[juraj]

ok

follow up

well i took the belt off and it really looks fine no crqacks nothing so had a look at the tensioner and the bearing was a little rough, so i took the roller wheel off, took the seals off the bearing the grease was all dried up, washed it packed it with grease sealed it up and noise is all gone,

however in the process one of the threads for the tensioner mounting gave way!! damn, but i may be able to rescue it without cutting a new one or looking for a helicoil kit as there is about 10mm of thread in the hole that bolt doesnt access, so i need a longer bolt,

so next question for the locals - is there a nut/bolt/fastener shop somewhere near central london?

bye

juraj

ps so much for my extravagant theories about belt and pulley interactions, but still there must e something in it as a squirt of wd40 on the alternator pulley could not possibly have lubricated the tensoner bearing which is nowhere near it and anyway is hidden behind a big washer and ayway is sealed,

[falling-out-with-my-car]

your rubber belt is having the same effect on the nice shiny pulley as a new pair of rubber soled shoes would have on a nice shnny floor it squeaks don't worry about it or buy some anti-squeek spray for belts in your local auto factors.

regards nigel.

[juraj]

hi nigel, yes thats what i thought but the repacking of the bearing took the noise away immediately so it must be the bearing, but yes the belt and pulley interaction is definitely another cause too,

anyway the regreasing of the bearing has only lasted about 45 minutes of engine time its already noisy again,

i dint know how anything gets done in london, i went to halfords, northwoods (much more of an auto parts shop than halfords, then to tipler engineering and none of them know where a bearing supplier is, in fact halfords dont even know that bearings exist, in fact most mechanics here don't even know what a helicoil is (i went aroun dto the local ones to see if i can get one doen for the tensioner mount thread), maaaan at home in sydney there are at least 50-100 bearing and seal shops where you can generally even buy helicoil kits, in fact last time i went to B&Q looking for a funnel not only didnt they have one but they didnt know what one was! england is really a Martian colony in disguise!

[CitroJim]

last time i went to B&Q looking for a funnel not only didnt they have one but they didnt know what one was! england is really a Martian colony in disguise!

Tell me about it All our old small specialists have gone now. It's like a wasteland if you want something a bit special.

All is not lost. The web comes to your rescue. Suppliers here andhere

Hope that helps...

[juraj]

thanks jim

deifinitely helps, but i need this done by friday night, so dont want to use postal services, actually i found a bearing supplier in london but they are a long way form me but i guess thats the way it is,

orbic bearings in croydon http://www.orbic.co.uk/, in fact i found an ebayer that would send me 2 bearings for £2.25 including postage, orbic have one ofr £4.95, but like i said i need them tomorrow

bye and thanks

[MikeT]

It's a long shot but I once used a bearing factors in Hayes, which isn't too far from you. Unfortunately I can't recall their name or unit number, just their appx location. They were on the Springfield Road Estate, Bullsbrook Road. It was one of the units near the south east end. Sorry to be so vague but it might be worth a reccy?

I took in a wheel bearing off my Honda and they matched the part number, saving me a lot of money!