Drive Belt Tensioner / PS Pump..

[~Rob~]

I had a couple of hours spare yesterday so cracked on with the timing belt. I got the rad out, drive belt off etc.

The aux drive belt pretensioner spins relativly freely, however has a course, grindy kind of sound to it when spun. Is this a problem? bearings going?

I was also in the knowledge that the bearings in my PS pump were on their way as it squeeked when idling and stopped if i sprayed WD40 down the shaft. However, after taking the drive belt off, the pully spins freely and there is no axail play in the shaft. Would it still be worth stripping the pump down a little to inspect the bearings?

Thanks guys..

[Martin F]

Auxilary Drive belt tensioner - strip down, clean and re-pack with grease. I made a post on here sometime ago about my own as had a similar grating and it was full of grit

PS pump - is there no play at all in the shaft? Was your auxilary belt very old?

[~Rob~]

Originally Posted by Martin F

Auxilary Drive belt tensioner - strip down, clean and re-pack with grease. I made a post on here sometime ago about my own as had a similar grating and it was full of grit ?

I seem to recall this, ill have a search..

Originally Posted by Martin F

PS pump - is there no play at all in the shaft? Was your auxilary belt very old?

The belt was done only a few thousand miles ago, no more than 18 months so that should be fine. The shaft feels very solid and doesnt squeek whEn i spin it by hand.
Should there be a significant amount of play? The squeek has been there for about 8 months and got louder as time progressed. It does seem to quieten down a little once the engine has warmed up though.

[suprarob]

Hi Rob

I used to get the squeek but after I,d greased up the tensioner it went away

[~Rob~]

Hmm, could well be the tensioner then!

Ill try greasing it up then, see how that goes. I suppose if it doesnt solve it, i can just whip the drive belt off again. I was surprised how easy the tensioner arm moved this time, after the force it took me when i changed the belt.

Thanks for the advice guys..

[Martin F]

If there is no play in the bearing of the PS pump as you say, then I would try putting it all back together and see how it sounds.

[~Rob~]

Just to drag this back up, how would one go about getting the bearing out of the tensioner pulley to clean / grease? Wouldn't I then need a press to get it back in? Or have i got muddled up?

[Martin F]

You don't actually need to take the bearing out, just take it's covers off, soak in petrol, white spirit or similar, brush any grit out of bearing, repeat as many times as you need to, repack with grease and fit covers.

[~Rob~]

Thanks Martin! The covers came off easily with a thin knife. I then got to work with loads of white spirit and some cotton buds! left it soaking last night and ill grease it up this morning!