Steering column rattle

[Captain Jack]

Basically, my tensioner is doing what this video does at 1:50 - the one with black pulley on the left. The belt at the bottom doesn't flap but the rest is pretty much the same.

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I've ordered the pulley but not sure if it will fix it.....

[Welly]

The flappy belt on the video is caused by a bad bottom pulley - this then causes the tensioner to flap about so replacing the bottom pulley first seems reasonable to me.

[Captain Jack]

It's here!



If this doesn't work, the car is going in the bin.

[Captain Jack]

It didn't work The problem is exactly the same - I can see the pulley wobbling a bit, which causes the tensioner to go crazy. I am completely out of ideas now.

BTW, do I need to threadlock the bolt? I didn't have any on my so I just tightened it up as tight as I could. Undid the bolt using jasper's method - works brilliantly!

[Captain Jack]

Idea.... what if I lock the auto-tensioner in place so that it doesn't move at all but make the belt tight enough. Would that work?

[steve_earwig]

I suspect you'd shorten the life of the belt considerably

Could you turn the whole lot by hand and see if on of the sprockets is wobbly/bent/fubarred?

[Welly]

I wonder if you've got a dodgy belt or tensioner (even though they're new)?

Maybe a Video clip of what's wrong might help here?

[Captain Jack]

Belt has been replaced twice so doubt it's that. I'll try to get a video later.

[Captain Jack]

Got some thread lock now so will take everything apart again and refit it properly. I was in a bit of a hurry yesterday so replaced the thing in under 30 minutes Might have missed something obvious.

[Captain Jack]

OK, here are a few videos. I made some progress today though.

Here's the video with the new belt, new bottom pulley and the new tensioner. It sounds horrible and rattly as hell.

(Sound a few seconds out of sync here)

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And here is the engine running without the pulley... nice and quiet and no funny noises.

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OK, so I think it sounded worse with the new tensioner, so following Welly's advice, I decided to put the old tensioner back on and... blimey, it's a lot quieter when just idling and the engine is warm-ish. You can still see it the tensioner wobbling but it's quite a tiny movement in comparison. However, you still get that horrible clatter when blipping the throttle.

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I played with various eccentric pulley settings to vary the tightness but only with the new tensioner - I sort of left it alone after I found a spot that I thought was relatively OK. I haven't made any adjustments with the old tensioner, simply because I am scared of upsetting it again. At least now, when warm and idling, it's not bad at all. And the steering column rattle has also minimised quite considerably!

Any other ideas?

[Welly]

Wow someone's been busy!

I think you've stabilised the problem for now but the videos will really help I think. Maybe someone like jasper can advise further.

One thing that came to mind was whether the belt it actually the right length? it might be a tad too long?

Good work so far.

[grasmere59]

I have heard that if the clutch pulley on the alternator is on it's way out you get a wobbly belt and some noise,might be worth looking at that.

[Captain Jack]

Welp, this morning it sounded like a bag of spanners again but after warming up, it was fine.... Does this suggest that something might be going on with the engine itself?

One thing that came to mind was whether the belt it actually the right length? it might be a tad too long?

Fairly sure it's OK, Welly. The previous belt that was fitted WAS too long, it was the completely wrong length - surprised it hadn't fallen off.

I have heard that if the clutch pulley on the alternator is on it's way out you get a wobbly belt and some noise,might be worth looking at that.

Hm, possibly, but I don't really want to spend money on a new alternator to find it's something else. Is there a way to check (WD40?!)? The alternator turns quite freely when driven by hand - there's hardly any resistance there.

Hmmm.......

[grasmere59]

If you put something gently through a ventillation slot in the alternator and stop the internals turning (i just used a flat bladed screwdriver)) you should be able to turn the pulley one way by hand so it freewheels and not the other,i have heard if they seize and can't be turned either way (no freewheel) they can make the belt flap around.

[Captain Jack]

Thank you! It's pretty much the only thing on there that I haven't replaced. If this is the culprit and it fixes the issue then I'll be a very happy man... with a car that will require little servicing over the next few tens of thousands of miles (excepting the oil changes).

If this is the case, I wonder if I should get a new pulley or a new but used alternator for the same price...