Engine Belt Fraying

[CiaranMcKeown]

I was driving the car last night and i heard a light clicking noise, it sounded like a big stone was stuck in the tread of one of my tyres. But when i inspected it was actually coming from the engine bay.

Opened the bonnet and noticed that the belt at the front of the engine connected to about 7 or so pulleys is frayed along the front most edge and a strip about 5 inches long and an 1/8th of an inch thick is hanging off it. When this rotates its slapping off different plastic pipes surrounding it.

So, ive looked around that russian website for a part number but i didnt have any luck, ive stopped driving the car as i dont know what damage this would cause if the belt snapped.

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[nick mercedes]

I was driving the car last night and i heard a light clicking noise, it sounded like a big stone was stuck in the tread of one of my tyres. But when i inspected it was actually coming from the engine bay.

Opened the bonnet and noticed that the belt at the front of the engine connected to about 7 or so pulleys is frayed along the front most edge and a strip about 5 inches long and an 1/8th of an inch thick is hanging off it. When this rotates its slapping off different plastic pipes surrounding it.

So, ive looked around that russian website for a part number but i didnt have any luck, ive stopped driving the car as i dont know what damage this would cause if the belt snapped.

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks.

If you look on the outside of the belt you'll find that it's got its size on it somewhere 6K 2090 or similar.

A worn tensioner can lead to frayed belts...

 

[grober]

contitech OEM

look up the correct Contitech (OEM MERC) part no here. http://www.contitech.de/pages/produkte/antriebsriemen/kfz-ersatz/download_en.html
About £15 from EUROCARPARTS

As has been said these normally last a long time unless something's wrong with the tensioner or other pulley driven components.

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

If the belt snaps will it do a lot of damage, im thinking this as ive to drive about 4 miles to my local indie and im not sure about driving it.

My power steering was quite heavy recently, would this have any relation to this belt?

What to this belt control and what is it called?

 

[grober]

Your power steering pump might be partially seized and this has damaged the belt. Have you checked the power steering fluid level? Dont drive the car without a belt except to move/park it. since the water pump, alternator, cooling fan etc are are usually driven of it. what year and model is your car?

 

[Dieselman]

It's just the auxillary drive belt which drives the alternator, power steering, A/C, waterpump.
Trim the flapping bit off with a sharp knife to stop it splitting further then go and take the car in to have a new belt fitted or buy one and fit it yourself. It takes minutes to fit.

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

its an 02 c220cdi

the power steering has been a bit heavy for a while but i checked the fliud level and it was fine.

As long as i know it would be ok to drive it to my mechanic im happy because thats a few quid off the repair cost as i wont have to get a tow truck to bring the car down.

Is replacing the belt a possible DIY job or would you have to bring it to a mechanic?

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

Diesle man id be happy buying a new belt and fitting it if i had a few instructions, but would the problem thats caused the belt to fray happen again unless its adressed?

do you also know which pully controls the power steering asi'd like to check that out.

 

[Dieselman]

Part number A0149970692
Size 21.36 x 2260mm.

 

[Dieselman]

Power steering is top right, but I'm sure that isn't the problem. It sounds like the belt has small split which is tearing now due to rotation.
If any of the pulleys were jammed it would cause the belt to wear very heavily on the ribs and even smoke as it skids.

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...649716.651&CT=F&cat=69N&SID=21&SGR=050&SGN=01

 

[Dieselman]

Changing the belt is easy.
Remove the top cover for access, fit an allen key intot eh tightener (tensioner) wheel pivot and turn it to release the tension, slip belt off, fit new belt, again release tension and slip belt behind tensioner and over power steering pulley, allow tension back onto the belt.

Done.

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...649716.651&CT=M&cat=63R&SID=20&SGR=045&SGN=02

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

Took a few pics of the belt to show you how bad it is, i removed the loose bit, its stopped the clicking but as you can see fron the pictures it definatley needs replacing.

The smaller picture as you can see, is the section that is causing the belt to fray.

 

[Dieselman]

That's the alternator pulley, which looks too small in width. The rest of the pulleys are wider by one groove.
Has the car had a replacement alternator or pulley.?

That belt isn't going to snap anytime soon, so fix this properly at your leisure.

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

Unfortunatley i dont know if it has had this replaced before i had the car, but i could tell stright away that there was a problem with it because the belt as you can see before it has frayed the edge, it would have been leaning over that pulley.

Thanks for the imput, i'll get it sorted when i return from spain in september.

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

OK, i got the belt, now which one is the tensioner pulley so that i can release it.

Also, What have i got to do to the alternator pulley to sort out that width?

 

[Dieselman]

The tensioner is ITEM 30

 

[BlackC55]

Its just above the AC compressor and below the PS pump.

The pulley is smaller than both of these. Look at the bigger pic above. The lower pulley is the AC and the upper one is the PS.

BTW get it done asap as snapped belts are fairly common. As soon as the fraying starts it needs attention

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

ok, found that so i tried to turn the bolt in the middle of this tensioner but when i turn it anticlockwise it lifts a little as it releases a bit, mind you i have to give it a really hard tug, is there an easier way of releasing this, am i doing something wrong? i tried to turn it clockwise also but its not budging.

 

[BlackC55]

There is a hole for either a Torx socket or 17mm 12 sided ring spanner,

 

[grober]

If the tensioner has a shock absorber attached you need to apply the counter clockwise force constantly for several seconds and the tensioner will move slowly as the fluid flows in the shock absorber. The alternator pulley may not be too small but slightly out of the "plane" of the other belt pulleys. Depending on the mounting bracket you may be able to move it slightly forward by using spacers/washers of the appropriate thickness. If the pulley is too narrow you have no choice but to fit a wider one. This may be difficult to source and you may have to fit a different alternator. The belt should be an exact fit across the pulley and fit snugly( without being nipped) between the 2 raised outer edges of the pulley wheel. Check out the width of all the pulleys with the new belt (loose) before you try to put it on.