Blimey has about 80K miles, but only about 15k on the current tensioner. A couple of weeks ago, car started making a helluva vibrating/rattling racket when I put the car in reverse or drive at idle or low RPMs when cold. When left in park, it's quiet... but as soon as I shift into gear, it starts the racket. Continues until I get above about 1500 RPM, then it's quiet. After the car warms up thoroughly, it no longer makes the racket at idle. Shift back into park and leave it at idle, and noise subsides. After a few days I put it in gear and set the brake, and popped the hood to take a look. The belt tensioner was bouncing rapidly about 1/2" - not enough to max out and hit the stop, but just vibrating at this really nasty frequency that sounds like a jackhammer. Belt was only several months old. but I put a new 060535 belt on it anyway... continues the same behavior. Thoughts? Anyone else seen behavior like this? I'm trying to figure out why it's (a) only when cold and (b) only when tranny is engaged (don't have to be moving - noise starts with foot on the brake and car in gear).
First guess is shot tensioner... the damper on it should supress these oscillations. Another thing to check would be that the other accessories are tight and spin as freely as they should. Anyway, this is acting just like an out of balance wheel that has a shot damper. Bounces like crazy at certain speeds, not so much so at others. Matt
My car almost always hesitates some after the first start of the day. Maybe my tensioner is going out too.
Agree with Dr O, take the belt off and make sure all pulleys spin freely. Uh, OK not all as the SC pulley will take some effort and of course the crank well, it won't move by hand. If every pulley is OK then the tensioner damper needs to be replaced.
Yeah, I'm gonna order a new tensioner just in case. Weird that my first one was still fine after 65k miles and this one lasted 15k... but oh well.... and might as well do the 15->17 pulley swap I've been waffling over for the past year while I have the engine jacked up and the belt and tensioner off and since I still need to have my retune done again anyway...
Nope. They don't sell that separately... what a racket. So, you CAN buy a whole new tensioner assembly and then take the damper off the new one and put it on your old one... if you really want...
I have seen idler pulleys make really odd and aweful noises. Best idea is to remove the belt and check all the pulleys for smoothness. You should be able to rotate all the engine accessories smoothly 360 degrees. Any binding or roughness will cause noise. Take the belt off and run the car. Does the noise go away. put the belt on a spary some belt quiet or silicone spray. Maybe the belt also needs replaing. Check it for heat marks and glazing
Not belt noise or noise from the idler or anything else - very clearly rattling / vibrating of the tensioner - you can watch it bouncing when the noise is coming from it at the same frequency as the bouncing.
I'll definitely consider changing the tensioner when I go to put the 15% pulley on unless it goes out before then.
You can change the tensioner w/o having to jack up the engine. Just go thru the wheel liner or if you have smaller hands do it w/o removing the liner.
Good to know. Think I'll have it looked at next time its being worked on if it doesn't go out before then.
I've tried before, and resorted to at least a partial engine lift. The automatic has about half an inch less clearance on that side than the manual. Doesn't sound like much of a difference... but it is when you don't have much room to work to begin with. I swapped the damper on my tensioner with the one that came off my original tensioner - it helped a lot, but there's still some vibration there - now it's more of a bad rattle vs. a jackhammer. I ordered a replacement tensioner and will swap it out next weekend, probably. Also ordered a 17% pulley from Way.
Was the old one shot? if something is driving the oscillation, that could be what caused the damper to fail. So a new one may fix the problem for a while, but if the root cause is elsewhere, you'll be doing this again shortly.... Matt
Depending on how the belt looks you may want to change it too. btw do you have an aftermarket S/C pulley... I have seen quite a few wear out belts before 40,000km
I'm in the "new belt every 20k miles club" - and my current one has a few thou on it. Dr. O - yeah, I know... I'm a little worried by that, too... tensioner and idler pulleys are smooth. Alternator is kinda jerky to turn by hand but I'm thinking it should be - yes? If not then that's a problem. I think AC is fine.
The alternator should be smooth and free spinning, not jerky. I think you may have found the assignable cause. The AC will not have the clutch engaged and so should be even more free spinning than the alternator.
Peachy. Sounds like it's time for an alternator. $200 for a reman after core, not to bad. I plan to replace this weekend and will report results. Thanks!
As it is difficult to explain a free spinning feeling. If you have the time, swing by any auto parts store and check out any alternator. This way you can feel what it should be. Just in case you are unsure............. Or you can just wait and feel your reman unit.