Well, about one year after my last thread, here's another regarding the aux belt noises on our (non-airconditioning) Clio!
I had a couple of previous noise events last winter, both independent from one another: a loose belt squeal and a terrible alternator bearing screech.
The belt squeal was the typical cold-weather slip on the loaded alternator, first thing in the morning when all the electrical load is applied. It was caused by axial play in the original, non-clutch OEM alternator pulley so a new alternator was ordered, complete with a clutch pulley. A permanent screech developed over the next week or two and this turned out to be from the new alternator bearings. It was promptly returned for a refund but not before I fitted a new INA (manual) tensioner to see if that was the cause.
So for the last year the car has been running with the new INA tensioner and a new INA clutch pulley attached to the original alternator.
Over the last couple of months there has been a constant background squeak. It follows the engine speed and is not belt-slip on a pulley. It is now quite audible when driving along, even with the windows up: only the stereo drowns it out.
Here the saga begins...
Earlier tonight I whipped off the aux belt and started the engine: no noise, so no isses with the cam belt and it's associated components.
I then swapped the clutch pulley onto a spare, used alternator I had from last year's horrors. The noise was still present. So I replaced the one-year-old INA tensioner with the original OEM tensioner that I'd kept after discovering that it wasn't the cause of last year's horrors.
Still awake? Well done.
The tensioner swap did not bloody cure the noise!
The car, being poverty spec, has the idler pulley in place of the air conditioning compressor at the lower front end of the aux belt run. This is the only object remaining yet to be replaced, so is my next port of call. If a new part does not cure the noise I can only assume a hole will open up in the space-time continuum because there are no other components it can be! My gut instinct this that the idler pulley is not the cause though, and it's a reasonably expensive part to take a punt on: ~£65 on eBay for an INA unit and ~£58 for a Febi Bilstein one. I guess I'll find out.
So, the purpose of this thread has become an exercise in self flagellation and long-term desire to fix the issue and not be beaten. Along the way, feel free to holler insults and taunts at me as I endevour to stop this irritating squeak. If you are currently suffering an on-going and thoroughly frustrating fault with your Gallic chariot, you can think of me fighting, physically and mentally, with this aux belt issue and rest a little easier in the knowlege that some other poor sod is having just an annoying a-time as you are.
I'll keep this thread updated with my progress and may post a picture or video as I go along. I expect much fanfare and jubilation upon completion of this task...
I had a couple of previous noise events last winter, both independent from one another: a loose belt squeal and a terrible alternator bearing screech.
The belt squeal was the typical cold-weather slip on the loaded alternator, first thing in the morning when all the electrical load is applied. It was caused by axial play in the original, non-clutch OEM alternator pulley so a new alternator was ordered, complete with a clutch pulley. A permanent screech developed over the next week or two and this turned out to be from the new alternator bearings. It was promptly returned for a refund but not before I fitted a new INA (manual) tensioner to see if that was the cause.
So for the last year the car has been running with the new INA tensioner and a new INA clutch pulley attached to the original alternator.
Over the last couple of months there has been a constant background squeak. It follows the engine speed and is not belt-slip on a pulley. It is now quite audible when driving along, even with the windows up: only the stereo drowns it out.
Here the saga begins...
Earlier tonight I whipped off the aux belt and started the engine: no noise, so no isses with the cam belt and it's associated components.
I then swapped the clutch pulley onto a spare, used alternator I had from last year's horrors. The noise was still present. So I replaced the one-year-old INA tensioner with the original OEM tensioner that I'd kept after discovering that it wasn't the cause of last year's horrors.
Still awake? Well done.
The tensioner swap did not bloody cure the noise!
The car, being poverty spec, has the idler pulley in place of the air conditioning compressor at the lower front end of the aux belt run. This is the only object remaining yet to be replaced, so is my next port of call. If a new part does not cure the noise I can only assume a hole will open up in the space-time continuum because there are no other components it can be! My gut instinct this that the idler pulley is not the cause though, and it's a reasonably expensive part to take a punt on: ~£65 on eBay for an INA unit and ~£58 for a Febi Bilstein one. I guess I'll find out.
So, the purpose of this thread has become an exercise in self flagellation and long-term desire to fix the issue and not be beaten. Along the way, feel free to holler insults and taunts at me as I endevour to stop this irritating squeak. If you are currently suffering an on-going and thoroughly frustrating fault with your Gallic chariot, you can think of me fighting, physically and mentally, with this aux belt issue and rest a little easier in the knowlege that some other poor sod is having just an annoying a-time as you are.
I'll keep this thread updated with my progress and may post a picture or video as I go along. I expect much fanfare and jubilation upon completion of this task...
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