Rattle At Idle 1.9Tdi Pd115

[sasquartch]

Recently my 2005 TDI 115 has developed an intermittent rattle at idle that seems to disappear once the revs get past say 1500.

It seems worse when hot but sometimes almost goes away then comes back again.

The car drives fine and the engine power seems normal.

I beleive the 115 PD does not have DMF and as said drives fine.

I've had a listen to it and of course the noise isn't there so much at the moment but there is definitely a hard rattle present on the drive belt side of the engine.

The aux belt seems to run true.

Any ideas ?

I'll wait until it comes back and have another look but any pointers would be welcome

[chromedome]

I would suspect the aux belt tensioner. Check to see if it's moving about and touching the main body of the tensioner.

[sasquartch]

The tensioner seems to vibrate quite a bit, almost as if the tensioner wheel is a little eccentric causing the tensioner constantly readjust.

 

Does this sound like a failed tensioner ?  What are the usual symptoms ?

 

When running should the movable bit (ie the bit you can put a spanner onto to release the tension) be still ?

[chromedome]

The tensioner does move about a lit bit on tick over but not excessively.

 

How do you know that your car does not have a DMF? Nearly all Galaxy's do and a clutch is fitted to the alternator to absorb some of the backwards movement through the system. If this clutch is failing this can also cause excessive movement on the tensioner.

 

When I had my Galaxy the wrong size pulley had been fitted to the alternator effectively lengthening the belt enough for the idler on the tensioner to hit the tensioner body.

[sasquartch]

Ive ordered a new tensioner so will try that as a starting point.

 

With the engine idling the knock gets much less if I back off the tensioner slightly with a spanner - so Im pretty convinced the fault is in this area.

 

Will see next week when Ive fitted the new tensioner whether it cures the fault. Was only 27 quid so no great disaster if it doesn't fix it - after 99k miles the original must be pretty worn out anyway.

 

GSF have a 35% off offer this weekend btw

[chromedome]

Don't forget to change the belt as well.

[xavier]

why change the belt?

 

I had a rattle in my mgf that baffled and worried me. I tried to find it myself and couldn't, even tried to get a garage to locate it and couldn't. One day I had her in for a service and when I got it back the rattle was gone. Turned out it was a bit of loose brake pipe from a repair a garage had done a year previously!

[xavier]

Also if your car doesn't have a dmf, it's because it's been replaced with a coversion kit.

[sasquartch]

I don't think mine has a DMF.

 

Pretty sure shortly after I bought mine new in 2005 there was a recall for DMF but it only applied to 130 models, the 115 was unaffected as didn't have DMF

 

If I put my reg number into Eurocarparts it doesn't come up with DMF, just regular clutch parts.

 

So I still think mine doesn't have one

[xavier]

My 2001 has a DMF.When I go into euro car parts, put my reg number in and go to flywheels, they're all dual mass. There is also a second category for single mass conversion kits.Wonder why the 2005's don't have them, seems a bit unusual. Anyway, hope the tensioner fixes your problem, would be great if you could report back if it works or not.

[sasquartch]

Interesting, you may be right. The ECP site does have DMFs listed in the flywheel section.

 

It always stuck in my mind that it didn't have one but maybe I'm wrong.

 

Not that it really matters, but is there any way to tell without stripping the car down ?

 

And, yes, I will report back when the new tensioner is fitted