2.1 HDI Poor Starting and Loss of Performance

[maxc]

Hi, New here and have a problem with my 120k mile '98 estate. We normally use it as a runaround for the dog but had to do 600 miles in it at the weekend. Towards the end of the trip I experienced loss of power steering and charging. I found the ancillary serpentine belt was off, with around half of its width shredded. I managed to refit it and get home carefully. We jump-strated the car and it ran well, though did seem noisier than normal. It took a lot of effort to start the following day. I fitted a new belt and can see no damage to any pipes, etc from the belt, but the starting is still very bad, needing a hell of a lot of cranking. When it fires, the engine seems to move a lot on the mounts and the top end is very noisy when running. Performance seems to be rduced as well. Could the diesel pump timing be affected by the debris from the belt - or any other suggestions please? Max.

[steve_earwig]

Hi there, welcome aboard

That was my first thought, check the cam timing before you do anything else. Like try to run it, for instance

[mark21TD]

Hi Max, welcom to the forum.
The 2.1 is known for throwing bits of AUX belt into the cam belt cover when the AUX belt goes like yours did,
and this oftern getts under the cam belt and it slips a tooth or two,
re-time the crank/cam/pump as you would when changing the cam belt (you may as well put a new belt on while your there) and all should be ok, the 2.1's cam belt can be a absalute sod to get back on as they seem to be a tight fit around the sprokets.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[poddack]

From my experience if your aux belt has gone, check the tensioner, tension adjuster and the crankshaft pulley too. I also had a power steering pump loosed it's bearings!

[maxc]

Thanks for the replies. I did some more homework and founf the belt guide in the KB - great resource! I stripped the car today and found the fuel pump timing to be 1 tooth retarded - the cam was still in sync with the crank. Sure enough I found bits of belt in the timning chest. The timing belt appeared in good condition - it was changed 40k ago. I refitted it and it now runs well. It has lost most of the loud top end noise - but it still needs to be cranked over a lot and seems a bit reluctant to run at first. I have primed the fuel system a couple of times with no improvement. I know the glow plugs are tired - but they work and starting was ok before the belt problem so given that the timing is now ok, this is a mystery. Could running it with the pump timing out have an adverse effect on the injectors? I reckon it is due a dose of Redex anyway (or the cheap method of a couple of litres of petrol in the tank) to flush them out. Max.

[maxc]

The car is all sorted now - the cam belt was stretched and the pump was running just out of sync. It looked fine when I set it up, but stripping it again showed this up. I fitted a new belt and it now starts and runs better than ever, indicating the old belt was tired - despite the service papers showing a charge for a new one at 80k - maybe someone cut corners? Max.