Fan Belt Tensioner A6 1.9TDI SE

[radix]

Howdy!
There is an awful squealing out of my fan belt when i turn the steering, especially on tarmac when the steering is under more pressure... It also is very noisy when its cold, but isn't as bad when it heats up.
I'm being told I've to replace the fan belt tensioner because it goes on them all, but i'm wondering, is it not possible to simply tighten the belt, because the belt itself seems fine!
I always understood it was a simple enough job to tighten a fan belt without having to replace stuff every time it loosens!?

[Redzer]

it could be the bearings are gone in the tensioner pulley meaning it cant turn freely giving the squealing belt.
I had to get mine replaced a while back, on my engine AWX the tensioner is a 3 part unit (a pulley, a damper and a bracket to hold the tensioner)
you might just have to replace the pulley but the bracket was slightly warped on mine so that had to be replaced on mine too.

if the belt is squealing it could be the clutch pulley in the alternator has siezed, theres lots of posts on here about that one too.

[Crasher]

That is normally the alternator one way clutch.

The belt is auto tensioning and cannot be manually adjsusted.

[radix]

I got the pulley on the altenator done recently, because there was a squeaking. There was no problems until a short time after, so I brought it back to the garage thinking that it was the altenator pulley giving trouble again, but that was fine, it was how the fan belt tensioner is on the way out and thats how the squeaking started again! I was told it is 200 euro for just the tensioner alone, then labour after that. I was just wondering if it was possible to tighten it like the good aul days!? obviously not so!