Rattly accessories (fan) belt

[sparkie]

HI everyone I have a 1996 Golf Tdi. Since I have had it, it has been a little rattly when ticking over, as soon as I dip the throttle or turn on the air-con it stops and smoothes out. I have never been worried about it, but my mechanic says it will need to be sorted soon. He says it is the tensioner pulley on the fan-belt to the right of the powered steering pump and alternator as you look from the driver's side. He thought it would be pretty expensive to buy here, so I am tempted to get it from the UK. Anyone know its exact name and preferably the part number or a way I can find it out myself.

Cheers

[gldgti]

There could be 3 things going on here.

1) The belt is worn out (stretched)
2) The tensioner is worn out
3) the 2 above things have come together to cause the shaft of the tensioner pulley to wear through the bushings inside the alloy housing and you need a new ac/alternator bracket and tensioner assembly.

If you have changed the belt recently and it still does it, change the tensioner and the pulley. If that doesnt fix it you may need to find the bracket. I had to get one from Canada!

The tensioner and pulley (bought separately) can be had locally. Tooley imports does them. If you ask for "serpentine belt tesioner pulley and tensioner for golf 3 1z TDI engine" they will know what you want.

If you examine the tensioner pulley carefully (remove the belt first) you will see how to remove it.

To remove the tensioner unit you need to undo the small philips head bolt in the middle of the tensioner, then remove the 2 allen head bolts that retain the tensioner onto the alternator/ac bracket. It lives kind of underneath the injector pump near the dipstick. Some tensioners have a "belt wear guage" on them which is nifty.

Good luck!