Technical Squeal from accessory belt?

[crastinblack]

Hi all, my Panda squeals sometimes.

It's a 1.2 petrol Fiat Panda 2010 I have an intermittent high-pitch squeal coming from where the accessory belt is:

I thought that it's probably just a loose belt, but it seems that my model (with air-con) has an automatic tensioner and I can't see an easy way to tension it manually (not even sure if possible).

Does this mean that I need to replace the accessory belt? Is that a real pain to do? If so, I'll probably get the garage man on the case.

Many thanks,

Richard

 

[DaveMcT]

The accessory belt is easy to change. You need to remove the wheel arch liner and engine pulley cover (mixture of bolts a X head screws). clean out the stew heads with a sharp fine flat blade driver and use a sharp number 2 "Posidriv" cross-head. Use a ring/open spanner with ring end on the tensioner and another spanner linked into the first for added leverage. You can now comfortably lift the tensioner so belt can be removed.

However, when mine made nasty nosies on starting, it turned out the alternator casing was cracked and fouling the rotor. I fitted a new alternator (£80) and a week later the old was was locked up solid. the water pump can also get noisy but that's unusual if the cam belt has been correctly serviced.

 

[crastinblack]

The accessory belt is easy to change. You need to remove the wheel arch liner and engine pulley cover (mixture of bolts a X head screws). clean out the stew heads with a sharp fine flat blade driver and use a sharp number 2 "Posidriv" cross-head. Use a ring/open spanner with ring end on the tensioner and another spanner linked into the first for added leverage. You can now comfortably lift the tensioner so belt can be removed.

However, when mine made nasty nosies on starting, it turned out the alternator casing was cracked and fouling the rotor. I fitted a new alternator (£80) and a week later the old was was locked up solid. the water pump can also get noisy but that's unusual if the cam belt has been correctly serviced.

Thanks man, I'll try the belt swap first.
AFAIK it's still on the original accessory belt and just gone over 70k miles so it's probably due for replacement

 

[koalar]

Aircon has a tensioner
No aircon manual adjust

Is there any pattern
Only at startup
Worse after rain
Worse after long drive
Does flicking aircon alter it


The belt would not be squealing by itself. If clattering it could be cracked

Squealing/chirp,
If it's altered by clutch position, throw out bearing

My gut says idler bearing

Flick the belt off and spin the compressor, idler and alternator by hand hopefully you will be able to feel a dry bearing

 

[crastinblack]

Aircon has a tensioner
No aircon manual adjust

Is there any pattern
Only at startup
Worse after rain
Worse after long drive
Does flicking aircon alter it


The belt would not be squealing by itself. If clattering it could be cracked

Squealing/chirp,
If it's altered by clutch position, throw out bearing

My gut says idler bearing

Flick the belt off and spin the compressor, idler and alternator by hand hopefully you will be able to feel a dry bearing

Thanks man! It has aircon. I notice the squealing noise mostly after a drive. Most times it doesn't happen when I start the car in the morning. Can't say about rain as I've only just noticed the noise, so it may only happen in dry weather.

I'll give it a test on those points

 

[DaveMcT]

The alternator is easy to check from under the car. Any cracks in the casing will be obvious. It will also feel rough with belt removed.

 

[varesecrazy]

@crastinblack