Drive belt tension

[oh_lol]

Hi all,

My Euro is currently making really bad squealing noises from the belt. I tried the old bar of soap trick but it only fixes it for a very short period of time.

I then looked into it more and realised that Euro's have an auto-tensioner. My little arrow is not between the tall or short indents, but to the right hand side of both indicators. Does this mean my belt has been stretched?
Or is the tensioner able to be 'tensioned' so that the arrow is in the correct spot?

[aaronng]

The arrow should be in the middle of the long and short rectangular indicators. If it is at the short indicator or past that point, then the belt has stretched and needs to be replaced.

[oh_lol]

OK thanks for the info.

Replaced the belt with a Gates one today, but it is too loose, and the tension marks are still showing it's too loose.

I believe then it's the auto-tensioner that is no good?

[Simonnn]

Which belt did you get? 7PK1750 or 7PK1760?

[oh_lol]

1760.

But even if I did get a 1750, it'd be much too loose anyway.

[aaronng]

OK thanks for the info.

Replaced the belt with a Gates one today, but it is too loose, and the tension marks are still showing it's too loose.

I believe then it's the auto-tensioner that is no good?

If the tensioner is worn out, then the arrow will be pointing to the long tension mark since the spring is weakened. To diagnose a worn tensioner, look at the tension mark when the engine is off and when the engine is on. A working tensioner should point at the long tension mark or at the middle when the engine is off and when the engine is on, should point at the same spot or closer towards the short tension mark. A worn tensioner will have the tension mark bouncing around when the engine is on and point towards the long tension mark as it is pushed back by the belt.

[aaronng]

1760.

But even if I did get a 1750, it'd be much too loose anyway.
That's odd. Could you take a pic of the tensioner mark when the engine is both on and off? (Or draw it in paint)

[oh_lol]

I have the tensioner out waiting for it's replacement to arrive today. So I'll install that and see what happens first, and take pictures if I still have the same problem.

On that note, does anyone have a diagram of the correct belt routing? I am sure it's on correct as it's the same way it was on before. I doubt it is on the incorrect way, as it only all of a sudden became loose.

[aaronng]

On that note, does anyone have a diagram of the correct belt routing? I am sure it's on correct as it's the same way it was on before. I doubt it is on the incorrect way, as it only all of a sudden became loose.

Look at the pulleys. Where the pulleys have ribs, then the ribbed side of the belt should come in contact. Where the pulley is smooth, then the back side of the belt comes into contact. If you route it through each pulley that way, it will come out correct.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/sab5043/belt.jpg

[oh_lol]

Hey again Aaron, thanks so much. That is in fact how my belt is run.

I replaced the tensioner today anyway, but it didn't do a thing. And it is still super loose.

Here is a picture of it with the new auto tensioner and the 1760 belt on. As you can see, there is a lot of slack from just pushing it with my finger.

http://i35.tinypic.com/r1c1w1.jpg

I'm kind of stumped now, because the belt nor tensioner fixed the problem. The guy I bought it off said he has had the air-con unit replaced recently (over 1000kms ago), and the only other thing I can come up with is that whoever replaced the aircon unit put in a different sized pulley. But if that was even the case, I have been (and previous owner) driving around with it no problems, and I don't see how the belt can all of a sudden become so loose.

[aaronng]

Then one of the pulleys might be different to the Euro's and is smaller than stock. Easiest is to use a shorter belt.

[oh_lol]

Planning on doing that now!

But what gets me is how can I have driven around for so long with an 'incorrect' sized belt, and for it to only become loose all of a sudden? Wouldn't this of happened straight away if/when the pulley was changed to a different size?

[aaronng]

Did you have a period of ime where you did not start your car at all for a few weeks? I've had a brand new Gates belt stretch by 2cm just by parking and not starting the car for 1.5 months. The rubber hardens if it has been exposed to heat from the engine and then not used for a long while. On my stretched belt, there are fine surface crack marks at each section where the belt went around a pulley.