Power Steering Belt

[Guest Sword]

Hi All

 

I have a 96 Sharan VR6. I just tried to pull out of my drive and couldn't turn the wheels, then gushes of smoke from engine bay, stunk like rubber to high hell.

 

I can see a ribbed belt going around the sprockets, so is the power steering belt seperate?

 

After I saw the smoke, I turned off the engine and went to get a torch, but I couldn't see anything untoward. After starting the car again, It ran for about 20 seconds and then a clapping like noise was heard so I turned the engine off.

 

Me not being a mechanic, think it is the power steering belt that has snapped and wrapped around a sprocket maybe?

 

Is there any easy way of accessing where the PS belt sits?

 

I did hear this morning what sounded like bearing wear, i thought it was alternator bearings, it wasn't a squeeling noise, more like bearing imo. The PS did squeel when on hard lock though.

 

Anyway, any info would be greatly appreciated and I thank you for your time in advance.

[jimjamjo]

Welcome Sword

 

Does sound like the multigroove belt has snapped - possibly after one of the components attached to it has seized e.g. steering

 

I'm not sure about the 2.8 but its all easy to see when you take off the air filter housing on the 1.9.

 

Hopefully, a veteran 2.8r will offer an opinion

 

Good luck with it

[greg_68]

If the PS pump is on the aux belt drive (I assume it is) it could well be the belt tensioner that has seized and broke your belt.

 

It is not too hard to replace approx 45 mins, will cost about

[Guest Sword]

Thank you all for the advice. After close inspection (in daylight) I believe the "what looks like a belt" is actually the lifetime chain, but I am still not convinced that there is an aux belt for the PS. If I am right, the chain goes around what looks like 7 sprockets, one of which must be to power the PS.

 

Now I found rings of plastic when I took the lower engine protection pan off. And after looking last night, I could see the smaller sprocket had what looked like, burned rubber on the side of the sprocket, after turning the engine over today, it seems the sprocket (I guess its the tensioner) has simply disintegrated on one side and these rings of plastic have come to light. Well, not being so handy and not wanting to play about with the chain and/or tensioner. I had it picked up by a recovery service and taken to my nearest VW garage.

 

If anyone can send me a picture of the tensioner location, just so I know VW are not going to rip me off, that would be amazing and appreciated.

 

Thanks again all.

[Guest marcusheawood]

Yes, it's the tensioner as greg_68 has stated, there is no chain driving all the stuff down there? Dunno what it was that you think you saw.

 

The belt drives the A/C compressor, the Alternator, the Power steering pump, goes under a spring loaded tensioner pulley before dropping back down to the crank pulley (5 pulleys, not 7)

 

The fault you have is common, and if you'd told us all when you heard the bearing noise we could've told you that it was the auxillary belt tensioner gone kaput! :unsure:

Before it destroyed itself.

 

It is a fantastically easy job to replace it, however the tensioner assembly is quite an expensive part (the belt is not). :o

 

The VW dealer won't rip you off but the recovery service will!!!!! :o

[Guest Sword]

As I am new to the fact of a car having a chain instead of a belt. I realise now the thick belt I have been looking at on the left is the Aux belt. That belt is still intact, it is also still strongly tensioned as the tensioner has only disintegrated on the outer edge. Still I have concerns as the PS has failed totally, but the belt is in one piece. I really haven't got a clue what is going on, If the belt snaps whilst driving, would this cause similar damage as if I had a cambelt? Or are the two totally seperate items.

 

I am deeply concerned that the engine may now also have a problem because of this. Although the engine does and could be started.

 

Thanks

[greg_68]

The tensioner is the very top pulley in the system.

 

You are lucky if the belt is in one piece if the the tensioner is seized it wouldn't be for much longer.

 

There is no real danger if it snaps whilst driving (like mine did) you will lose all your aux services i.e PS, aircon, water pump etc.

If it snaps you will notice straight away with the dissapearance of the PS and the engine water temp rocketing.

 

It has nothing to do with the engine timing.

 

Next time you have a problem (if you have time) ask on here before booikng it in. The guys on here probably know more than Ford/VW and will undoubtedly save you shed loads of dosh like everyone else on here has. This really was a simple job and could have saved you

[Guest vr6galaxy]

 

p.s what is the best way to upload photo's to this site.

use the file attachment box above the add reply button, you are limited to 300k and certain types of files, so reduce the quality of the pictures before you attempt to post them

[Masked Marauder]

I am starting to think the waterpump bearing has collapsed and siezing the belt, which is slipping on the crank pully causing the smoking and lack of PAS.

 

Was the alternator (battery) light illuminated?

[Guest Sword]

Thanks for the explanation Greg68. VW are charging me

[Masked Marauder]

Here you go!

 

A new tensioner is

[Guest vr6galaxy]

and

[Masked Marauder]

What quality was the belt though! lol!

[Guest Sword]

Thanks for the pictures. Below is a very bad attempt in MS Paint to show the item that has disintegrated. Now I am worried.

[Guest vr6galaxy]

Yes that pully is part of the tensioner set up

 

Masked Marauder

 

What quality was the belt though! lol!

 

pukka VW belt in it's VW bag tucked into a Ford box :o

[Guest marcusheawood]

How in the name of all that's holy do they get 2 hours labour out of that job?

 

Sword, ask to see the labour quote because it sounds to me like a mistake, perhaps they've quoted to change the Cambelt tensioner by accident?

 

The job should be charged at 0.5 hours surely...

[Guest Sword]

Thanks all, I surely will ask them about the labour quote. I gaurentee they will say it took them so long diagnosing the fault to pump the hours up. But none the less, the experience on these forums is enormous and I will take your word for it and query the job length. I have another question about something so I will search for a thread thats similar or start a new one.

 

Thanks

[Guest Sword]

Got a call from VW yesterday saying the parts have arrived and that I can have the car back in the afternoon. Asked about the labour quote and apparently the belt has snapped and wrapped itself around of the pulleys and melted. They said that they have to clean all the pulleys what takes a bit of time and thats why they are quoting me for 2 hours.

Just before I was getting picked up to pick my car up I got a call from VW... they had a massive powercut..lol :D Just my look, will have to wait now after all...

Thanks for all your help and advice.

John

[Guest Sword]

HELP!

 

Got my car back from Volkswagen of Liverpool yesterday, they changed Tensioner and belt and cleaned the pulleys. Now my car runs like a Citroen 2CV.

 

I noticed when I looked inside the engine, the bolt in the attached image 80MM M8 bolt isnt there, further to this, the tensioner whats looks like it is out of Aluminium? where this 80MM M8 bolt goes through is split and broken. Now the car runs terribly and smelling of burnt rubber again.

 

if this bolt is missing, can it cause any damage? Or cause the car to run so poorly?

[Guest vr6galaxy]

The bolt shouldnt be there :D it's sole purpose is to de tension the the spring in the tensioner if they left it in then yes time to worry :P

the tensioner is meant to be in two parts probably why you can see the split? the bracket bolts to the engine via three bolts, the tensioner pushes against the outer side of the drive belt apply pressure to it and keeping it tight, when you insert the bolt you push the tensioner pully away from the belt allowing if to go slack

the running problem should not be anything done by changing the belt/tensioner! most likely a plug lead loose or gone bad :( the burning rubber could be the remains of the old belt being burnt off the hot engine/pully's? check the AC, power steering are working ok?

[Guest Sword]

well, VW admitted to installing the tensioner incorrectly. The rough running is down to the coil pack so they say. Well another

[Guest vr6galaxy]

Ask for the coilpack back or dont let them change it first without checking it! run the engine in the dark, use a spray gun and get the pack slightly damp before you start the engine and look around the pillars on the pack for signs of shorting out, loose sparks etc? you could clean the pack, dry it out in the oven and reseal it using epoxy resein before you splash out on a new one? or even pop into your local Ford dealers and get a new one for a lot less than VW want for it! then DIY it's an easy job 25/30 mins at the most, taking your time

[Guest Sword]

well hello all again. Thought I would continue this thread instead of starting another (similar problem I think)

 

Well, last week I found the PS pipe from the resevoir had a chaffed spot and a small hole. So I went to VW and bought a new assmebly from the rack to the rese. PS seems fine now, but since then the bloomin aux belt tensioner is sounding poor again. Again the sound of a bearing like last time. My question is...

 

On the tensioner front face (just below where the 80 MM bolt thread is. Is a mark on the left part of the tensioner, on the right is what looks like a arrow. Now the right side of the tensioner seems to vibrate very slightly and I can see the marker moving up and down, ever so slight but it is moving. Do these marks denote anything? Maybe current belt tension?

 

Another thing, where can I get a hold of the illustrations shown to me in this thread? Are they from the equivalent of VW Elsawin? If so, do Ford also have a software like Elsawin?