Auxiliary Belt Tensioner Pulley

[Thassos]

Hope I understand your Q, but basically one of the idler wheels is mounted to a round device that contains a large spring inside, the spring inside rotates to hold the wheel against the belt. To get the belt back on you have to use a long flat ended spanner to get onto the centre of the tensioner wheel and then crank it round, there are 2 holes that align to allow you to use a drill bit or similar rod to be pushed in thereby holding the position. You can then get the belt around the pulley run (with no tension on it), once youve done this you can use the spanner again to release the drill bit and then allow the tensioner to move back to tension the belt. None of this is very visible making the job a bit of a cursing event!. Im assuming your engine is similar to the 2.0T of which ive replaced the tensioner on before. Will try to post you some pics if ive got them if thats helpful.

[getanammer]

Thanks for the help!
I think I can recall seeing the idler with the spring behind, I'll have a look tomorrow.

[Thassos]

A couple of pics that might help, this was 'without' the pulley as the bearing siezed and melted the end of the alloy tensioner, red arrow is the tensioner,
the position may be a bit different on your engine, this was on a petrol 2.0T.

The top of the tensioner rotates (the centre being the thing that looks like a pop rivet).

[getanammer]

Thanks for the pics Thassos,
The layout is different and it looks as though the tensioner is different too.
On mine there is a kind of hexnut that is part of the casting, I presume this is what I have to get a spanner on to pivot the tensioner assembly.
I think its a 16mm which I don't have in my set of spanners(typical!)

[getanammer]

Update for reference:
Tensioner hexnut is 16mm on my 51reg V40 1.9D
Spanner has to be turned quite a distance to lock tensioner in slack position
Use a long 16mm open ended spanner
Draw a picture or take a photo of belt routing to aid correct refitting of belt

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread

[Volvon]

Here is a simple guide for removal I made;

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...uide+auxiliary

I can't remember if I done a guide to refitment..it is pretty similar to removal except put a spanner on tensioner and compress it so you can get belt on. You can do it with a regular spanner not a long spanner if you like pain..which it appears I do.

[sleekitwan]

Haynes manual gives incorrect direction to loosen!
Hi all,

Keep seeing threads on alternator freewheel - the 'pulley clutch'. The thing about 2 inches diameter on the end of the alternator shaft with grooves on it that the belt runs around.

I finally unscrewed mine tonight, after looking at the thread on the new one (cheap Brazilian 'Zen' make), and working out I HAD BEEN TIGHTENING IT UP!

That's because I very carefully followed the Haynes manual, manual 4263, chapter 5 headed 'starting and charging systems', here it is from ch 5 section 28:"Unscrew the pulley anti-clockwise while holding the shaft with the torx bit..." WRONG WRONG WRONG DO NOT DO THIS!

You get the alternator out with a lot of wriggling from the engine bay, and I screwed it down to a long beam of wood, then stuck a half inch breaker bar on the torx shaft end, after fitting on a suitable ring spanner to the splined rotating 'socket' thing that will unscrew the pulley. I TIGHTENED the thing up a whole half turn before realising something was wrong. So, I took my 4 feet of scaffold pole off the ring spanner (!) and made the necessary check of the thread on the NEW item, compared with a nut I had lying around, and promptly TURNED THE SPANNER THE OPPOSITE WAY TO HAYNES RECOMMENDATION.

It came off in the first effort - I had previously spent 30 minutes and a lot of effort wrenching the poor thing to death.

Haynes are not usually wrong - but they are this time.

So, to be clear - use a load of wd40 or even thinner release agent, and hold the torx bit in the shaft dead steady, and TURN THE splined 'socket' CLOCKWISE to unscrew it!

Also, on the diesel at least I have, when you buy the tensioner for this serpentine/auxiliary belt, they don't supply the IDLER wheel. It gets exactly the same tension and is identical except for the bolt they use to mount it (no 'shoulder' like the so-called 'tensioner' roller/wheel/pulley has. So, I temporarily substituted the old tensioner wheel in its place (in case this component has already been replaced - that would make the so-called 'idler' wheel twice as old, if you get my drift?)

Had to order the idler wheel separately and it was half a millimetre narrower, not moulded to the same quality of finish, and that's another thirty quid I won't see again!

For the record, my car is a 2003 V70 D5 automatic, the 163 bhp automatic version, 120k miles. Might not be the same manual, the mistake may not be the same - but usually these things do unscrew contrary to 'normal'. Like the right-foot bicycle pedal, if you have ever tried valiantly unscrewing that wrongly as a 'rite of passage' in your DIY portfolio of annoying mistakes?

[Hp169]

My belt tensioner bearing seized and had to replaced. 1998 v40 2.0 SE petrol.

Thanks to the posts above I managed to remove bolt 7 and replace the unit. (Very difficult job) However I can not for the life of me get the replacement belt back on! (Yes - it is the right belt - 1752mm and the same part number as the old one) I have turned the tensioner to the slack position as far as it will go and the belt will still not fit! Am I missing a trick? Should the alternator or aircon pump be loosened? Any trick or advice will be appreciated.

Thank you.

AG

[Thassos]

Hi HP,

Yes getting the old tensioner off is a bit of a strip down to get to jobby !

Did you lock the tensioner in its (back) position before attempting to get the new belt in place? you need a 4.5mm dia drill or something similar in size (see attached pic). Maybe you got the route of the belt slightly wrong, as its not always apparent with the limited space, a pic attached of its correct route..

Hope thats helpful, incase you havent already got it back together !

[patrick264]

Originally Posted by chb

I have the same car as you (well a 1998 V40 2.0CD non-turbo).
Last year it developed a squeel, like a slipping fanbelt.
It turned out to be the alternator, but I had most of the bits off and changed that linked to the aux drive belt to discover this.
I don't profess to remember the details of how I fitted what, but I remember that one of the pulleys was a real sod to fit (the first time!) and required a good bit of dexterity to get it in. I did not at any stage remove the air-con gubbins.

One thing I did buy that made the job MUCH easier was an extra long closed end ring spanner. This is about 14" long and made the job much more do-able.

The other thing I rember is that one of the bolts is right opposite a thick crossmember. Use an open endeded spanner to un-do it once it is cracked off. I have a set of posh halfords pro ratched spanners (non reversing). I backed the bolt out, but had to dismantle the spanner in situ to get it out due to lack of clearance.

I also found a 2.5 or 3mm alen key handy for locking the tensioner in the slack position.

I did all this with one side of car jacked up.

My car 98 2.0 CD also squeals on ptaking off in 1st gear more a squeak then squeal ,is lasts only a few seconds , would that be an alternator ?