Spray some water onto the inner belt "V" and see if that makes it quieter. If it damps the noise then it's just the noise of the belt hitting the pulley... same as different tyres make different noise on the tarmac.
Ralf S.
Ralf S.
Technical Strange noise
- Thread starter YeYe
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Technical Strange noise
I only just came across this thread. Somewhere on the forum, and a few years ago - 2018/19? I posted about a very similar noise which our 1.2 2010 Panda 60hp was making. Quite similar to yours except it was there from when we bought it second hand just before that. Compared to yours, the noise from ours sounded more like a tensioner or water pump bearing failing or, maybe, an overtightened timing belt. I mentioned it to the selling garage but he said he'd heard this noise in both small Fiats and the Ford Ka and it is a "characteristic" of the engine. I'd been watching our Panda on his website for a few months before going to view it and he'd dropped the price a couple of times. When I test drove it the brakes made a hell of a racket but I could see it was due to rusty front disks and the salesman, stupidly, let drop to me that he'd given several test drives in the car but noone had bought it. I'm not surprised with the noise it was making - but I am surprised they didn't sort it? - Anyway, I negotiated a big additional discount and bought the car.
Over the next year or so I got stuck into "sorting" the vehicle out, most of which I've made posts about, but one of the first things was to fit a new timing belt kit as the noise was worrying me. (Gates "full" kit which includes the water pump. I've used Gates kits for years and they are my default favourite). I bought the "proper" timing tools for about £40 on ebay and the job went well following Andy Monty's excellent guide and the Haynes manual I'd bought. So it was very disappointing to find that the noise was still there on startup! A systematic investigation of the auxiliary (fan) belt - I'd fitted a new aux belt as I always do when doing a timing belt - it's tensioner bearing and the air con pump pulley bearing all produced no finding, other than that all was well. Running the engine with this belt removed didn't banish the noise either, so it was off with the fan belt and remove the timing belt covers again. I was still convinced it was a bearing, even though the tensioner and water pump were new. I started going round everything with my mechanic's stethoscope - a long screwdriver stuck in your ear gives much the same result - but results were inconclusive. Then I stuck my old "listening tube" in my ear and went round everything again. All quite except when I went near the camshaft pulley. So I carefully, a little bit at a time, moved the end of the tube all around the pulley and it immediately became apparent that it was whenever the end of the tube was hovered over where the belt meshed with the pulley teeth that the noise was loudest. So, looking at the drive belt end of the engine, leaning over the driver side front wing, it's where the belt meets the pulley at around 9 o'clock (if you imagine the clock face markings). I spent quite a while moving the end of the tube around and it was definitely this precise place where the noise was coming from. I then checked the tensioner marks on the tensioner - mine has the automatic, spring loaded tensioner - and they were spot on. It's worth noting that you'll have set these pointers up when the engine is cold so if you're now checking with the engine hot the pointers will appear to show the tensioner slightly over tensioned. This is because the block and head expand with the heat of a hot engine so the centre distance between the camshaft and crankshaft will slightly increase. The auto tensioner can cope with this because it's spring loaded which allows it to maintain the required belt tension whether the engine is hot or cold. If you have the earlier engine with the fixed tensioner then we could have some very interesting conversations about how best to achieve the correct belt tension, however I think you're engine will have the auto tensioner YeYe?
So, I could find absolutely nothing wrong and reinstalled the guards, aux belt, engine mount etc and just started using the vehicle. That was 4, maybe 5, years ago. She's still making the same noise, as she did with the original belt fitted, which annoys me greatly as I'm an obsessive perfectionist, but Mrs J doesn't know what I'm complaining about and can't hear the noise at all. As she's the main driver of the car I suppose that's Ok then? Because of my obsession with this noise I've had Kenny, at my local wee Fiat independent, take a listen and he told me that it's nothing to worry about. Some of them make the noise and others don't, seems to be completely random. You either have one that does or one that doesn't.
Subsequent to this I've tended to listen to Pandas and 500 as I'm out on my daily walks and I do, from time to time, hear one making very similar noises. I think Kenny is right, you either have one which does or one which doesn't! Becky, our Panda, will be needing a new belt this summer (5 years since last one, and I'm going to try a different make than the Gates just to see if it makes any difference to the noise. I'll post the outcome when I do it.
Always worth a try with noisy belts. I like to run a blackboard chalk against the inside of the belt which has the same effect but for gawds sake, keep your fingers out of the belt! Needless to say, never use an oil of any sort.
I had a very noisy aux belt on my ford street ka!.
I found the best way to quiet it down was to buy a carbon stick from an arts and crafts supplier ( get an HB one has the most carbon content) then (CAREFULLY! mind ya fingers) let it rub againts the INSIDE!! run of the belt with the engine running ( might be best to hold in a set of clamp grips at the very least wear gloves) I cant be responsible for your own stupidity!
. the stick will deposit fine carbon dust across the inside of the belt which acts as a DRY lubricant and reduces noise as the teeth mesh with the pulleys!.Thank you all. Interesting Jock that you say that you hear the noise most at 9 o clock on the camshaft pulley, on mine I would say it's loudest at about 3 o clock, just as the belt is leaving the pulley. I'm 100% certain it's the belt and not a pulley. I have a theory, probably crazy, that if the belt was lying a long time folded up in a box that it may have developed stiff or slightly deformed parts that complain as they are bent around the pulley. Anyway, I'm now happy it's not an issue, although I can't help commenting on it... much to my wife's annoyance.
Mrs J used to get annoyed by me commenting on car noises but now she just says "I don't want to know. Cars are your responsibility, if it needs fixing then fix it but don't keep going on about it"!
What about lathering it with baby talc? 
Or perhaps a new pulley...?
Ralf S.
Or perhaps a new pulley...?
Ralf S.
