Power Steering/Alternator/Water Pump Drive belt noisey

[EVO]

Hi,

Is this common problem on Audi A4's TDi?

It seems to be coming from the belt area, like a rumble sound and the tensioner seems to be jumping all over the place, even though the tension seems suitable for the purpose?

Please advise

[onzarob]

The tensioner is sprung, but has a tendantcy to sieze. you may need a new one about £80.

[EVO]

is this a front end removal job and if so how do I do that?

[Lex Luthor]

Check the alternator one-way clutch before you replace anything.

[EVO]

Check the alternator one-way clutch before you replace anything.

Hi Lex,

How and where? New to Audi A4

[Lex Luthor]

search the forum.

[EVO]

search the forum.

Great help thanks! why offer advice and then not links or the actual information? Seems pointless to me.

[EVO]

Just to keep everyone updated.

Part £56 +VAT - £5 for the technician to change the coupling. (Tool was £50!)

Fault cured all ok now.

Thanks for the information help everyone.

Curious, what is the point of the viscous coupling on the alternator?

[Lex Luthor]

It's not a viscous coupling, its a one way clutch that de-couples the spinning mass of the alternator from the rapidly changing speed of the crankshaft when the engine is idling.

You have a huge resource available to you and yet you think someone will come running just because you ask a question that has been posed 50 times already.

[slow74kWdiesel]

Hi. I know this is an old post but it's one of the ones I visited before my recent (half an hour ago) trip to a Seat main dealer (with my 53 reg A4 1.9TDi 100BHP) and I just wanted to record what was said by the service dude for the benefit of all. My visit was promted by a wildly, and irregularly, jumping aux belt tensioner which could clearly be heard from the front of the car. My first thought was that the bearing in the pulley was knackered but a lot of the posts on here (including this one!!) talk about the one-way clutch on the alternator being the problem. This is what the Seat guy reckons (although it had stopped misbehaving by the time I had got to the garage (approx. 4 miles). He said it's not really possible to say which part is at fault (tensioner or alternator clutch) without investigating (£labour£) but he would DEFINATELY go for the alternator clutch since they had done four 1.9TDi cars in the last month with this problem and this was the faulty component in ALL CASES. He said £45-50 for the part and about an hour labour. HOWEVER, I see the originator of this thread appears to have got the job done for a FIVER!!! Are they trying to rip me off or what?