Bad weather,

[highlander]

It snowed in Aberdeen at the weekend - had to dig the car out on Sunday morning. There's still a reasonable amount of it all over the place, but not enough to stop people going to/from work.

Oddly enough my car feels better in the snow now it's got wider 19" tyres than it did on narrower 16" tyres.

There was a horrible rattling noise coming from under the bonnet when I started her up last night - had to chance it and drive on, and the sound disappeared shortly afterwards, and hasn't returned. Seemed to be coming from the alternator or thereabouts. There was no movement in the engine block, and nothing obviously wrong (the aux belt and pulleys don't seem to be slack or loose in any way), but better to be safe than sorry - I'll be taking her in to the garage for her 75,000 mile service and a checkup on Wednesday morning, hopefully that won't go badly - I'll be driving up to Thurso on Friday afternoon...

[Welly]

Probably some damp on the Aux belt, common if its been sat overnight in crappy weather.

[DaiRees]

The only pipes in my attic / roof space are for the central heating, and when it's proper cold outside, that's on!

[highlander]

Probably some damp on the Aux belt, common if its been sat overnight in crappy weather.

It was running fine not an hour previously. Also, a wet aux belt generally results in a squealing noise, doesn't it? - this sounded more like ball bearings in a tumble dryer

The weird thing was, it didn't seem to affect how the car performed or handled, and it was gone about 10 minutes into my journey. No idea what it was, but hopefully it either won't return, or will be easily identified by the garage. Fingers crossed it won't be A Bad Thing.

[highlander]

Argh, bollocks - it's the aux belt pulley that attaches to the alternator; it's worn. It's still noisy but nowhere near as bad as it was on Sunday. Can't get it fixed before New Year, and I have about 500 miles worth of driving to do before then.

Also, during the service he noticed the front brake pads are 70% worn, so they'll need replaced in the next 2 months (he reckons), and the rear brake discs are partly corroded. I was thinking about buying some performance brakes & pads next year anyway - like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110496280881 - MTEC Front & Rear discs (drilled & grooved)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350190734119 - EBC Green Stuff front pads
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260892036187 - EBC Green Stuff rear pads

I already have braided brake lines, but haven't had them fitted yet - should be a good all-round upgrade to the car's braking system.

Could have been a worse outcome, but I guess it's just the timing of it. I will still be making my trip, but I'll be upgrading my AA cover so I will still get to where I'm going even if the car doesn't make it

[steve_earwig]

That's a bit crap Good idea on the AA but I have worry that the HDis aren't the only PSA engines that can loose the timing belt along with the aux belt - I think the V6s do too, so I have no idea about the 2.2. Anyone know better?

[Doggy]

Well, a DW12's cambelt looks identical to a DW10, (the other cam's chain driven). So I'm guessing it's the same for you petrolheads.

[highlander]

A buggered timing belt would probably ruin my whole day

Fingers are remaining firmly crossed - there's basically no possibility of getting this fixed until January.

[Doggy]

Minimise your mileage, keep the revs moderate, fingers crossed.

An aux belt failure, should it happen, doesn't necessarily mean timing belt problems, (the one on my Xsara came off a coupe of times, with no ill effect other than heavy steering - lack of charge doesn't matter too much on a summer evening).

The noise you describe can, I believe, be due to a faulty alternator pulley, IIRC

[highlander]

The noise you describe can, I believe, be due to a faulty alternator pulley, IIRC

aux belt pulley that attaches to the alternator

's wot I said, but you said it properly

Will get it scheduled for VERY early in January, and will also use the opportunity to get the stupid "Fuel filler cap open" problem cleared at the same time.

[highlander]

She made it, there and back - more than 500 miles since Friday...

Getting that pulley replaced PDQ