2005 Passat serpentine belt change

raunch · January 26th, 2009, 07:34

New to my Passat and the forum. The car has been great and there is a wealth of information on the board. However I have been to find any serpentine belt information specific to the '05 Passat and the BHW engine.

A serp belt change seems simple enough, but when I started to go after it last night, I found another tensioner for the A/C compressor belt. For this tensioner I could only find one allen head bolt and after loosening it, the tensioner would not move. This tensioner appears to be on a bracket that should rotate. So my first question is, how to deal with that tensioner?

Second question is, any tips/tricks for removing the serpentine belt? I'm going to replace the belt in the hopes that the squeal stops. The squeal shows up at low rpm's when the steering wheel is turned. I'm hoping it's the belt protestesting the load from the power steering pump, and not the pump itself. However, the pump does groan a bit when put to work at the low rpm's.

Thanks.

coalminer16 · January 26th, 2009, 13:47

It really isn't good practice to turn the wheel all the way to one side and hold it there, so that may be part of the noise. Old cars always made noise doing that (yes I know this is newer, just making a point). I just changed my 04 golf belt and it had a square nob at the end of it so a wrench could be put on it. It wasn't fun to install but that is how I did it. I think the allen bolt is for holding the tensioner on the car. The tensioners on newer cars are self adjusting and you need to force it back to loosen the belt enough to remove and then install. I would have someone there to hold the wrench. Some you need to have a 1.2 inch drive to hold just as a thought to. I don't know if the new belt will help your noise though. Check for cracking, they don't tend to stretch much. Also check if you tensioner has enought tension as the spring could be worn.

oilhammer · January 26th, 2009, 13:56

Two Allen bolts for the A/C belt adjuster.

However a squeal is probably the alternator clutch pulley going bad.

MOGolf · January 26th, 2009, 16:31

See http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=200181 about the alternator pulley, and how to r/r the serpentine belt on that side.

As oilhammer said, there's two bolts for the other one. The pivot one (that you found) and one at about 1-2 o'clock from the center of the pulley on the pivoting bracket.

raunch · January 27th, 2009, 07:20

MOGolf-Thanks for the link. Great stuff, I've seen some of your others as I've been lurking, but didn't check that one out.

Some more info on the squeal: It occurs, for instance, when coasting into the driveway and making the turn to get in. At this point the motor is at idle and the PS pump will groan a little too. I'm going for the belt first because of what happened with my 6.2 alternator belt. This belt would also squeal while under load, but only while cold. After starting the 6.2, the alt belt would squeal a second and then squeal some more whenever the glow plugs would fire up. The belt was squealing while under load from the alternator. This is similar to what is happening in the Passat, only the load is coming from the PS pump. I'm thinking I ought to replace the tensioner while I'm in there, as the belt does look OK.

Thanks all for the info. I'll let you know how it turned out after I replace the belt.

oilhammer · January 27th, 2009, 07:31

Yep, sounds like the alternator clutch pulley is failing.

raunch · January 27th, 2009, 08:48

Well, guess I'd better get busy. Thanks.

andrewclark · November 3rd, 2009, 14:11

I’m somewhat mechanically inclined but have not turned any wrenches in quite a few years. This is my first used car in a long time. But am very reluctant to spend the money to take it someplace.

With that said, where on the difficulty scale of 1-5 would this fall if I choose to try to change the alternator clutch myself at the same time as I work on the belt? I’m leaning towards just doing the belt. See reasons below.

I think mine’s the power steering pump too:
I’m new to TDIs, but I have read all the alternator clutch pulley messages and I'm fairly certain I'm having the same power steering pump issue that Raunch had back in January.

Raunch, did the new belt and/or tensioner fix the noise?

The sound I'm getting is very different than the noise the pump makes when turning to one full lock or the other (The users manual says that noise is normal and not to do it for any length of time). My noise only happens when using the power steering at idle, even if just making slight wheel turns. I don't think my pump itself is making any noise, just the belt, because once I get up to 1k+ RPMs everything feels and sounds smooth and the pump does not strain. With mine the sound is not so much a squeal but is more like a chirping that I can actually feel in the steering wheel as well, like the belt is skipping over the pulley. When cold (morning starts or after work) I don't hear the noise, but when it warms up to 190 I get the chirping as I pull into parking spots or adjust my parking position.

The alternator:
That's not to say I won't be experiencing the alternator issue sometime soon. I bought the car a month or so ago and that day near the end of an 8 hour drive home at night I experienced a quiet ratcheting like noise under the hood and my alternator (battery shaped) light came on. I say ratcheting because I don’t know another adjective to describe it, but when I opened the hood to check it out it sounded like a steady shaking of a Chiclets box. Chik-ka-chik-ka-chik-ka. Not any squealing or chirping. It only lasted about 20 or 30 seconds then stopped and my alternator light went out. It has not happened since, but the writing is on the wall. I’m just afraid if I pay to get it checked out they won’t find anything wrong unless it happens again.

I concede that the two issues may be related, but with the power steering noise my alternator light never comes on and with the alternator noise I never felt anything in my steering wheel. The power steering noise just started this weekend.

oilhammer · November 4th, 2009, 04:08

You need an alternator pulley.

And that other noise is the chain drive trying to break its way out of the bottom of the engine.

OCPD · February 21st, 2010, 21:32

VW dealer (parts dept) said the Bosch alternator is interchangeable w/ Valeo. Both have same amperage/voltage (120 amp 14v I believe). VW Mechanic who had the only 33 tooth bit in Sacramento area (on a saturday, but why?!) to swap pulley mentioned that new alt clutch was "better." This mostly fixed squealing noise, although alternator workshop light came on again once briefly after switch, and I noticed that tensioner vibrates when belt squeals.

There is occasional slight "catching" metal sound (alt clutch??), accompanied by slight squealing and vibrating of serp tensioner/belt. I guess I have two ?'s: (any info is MUCH appreciated)
-Is the bosch ok to put in place of Valeo?
-Is an aftermarket tensioner ok to use here considering OEM equip is apparently way over-priced?

OCPD · February 22nd, 2010, 00:28

I went ahead and put in the aftermarket tensioner (from Oreilly/Kragen--Gates part # 38326), and all sounds looks good. A little vibration/rocking (1/2"-3/4") of tensioner, but no sound and much less movement than before (+/- 2").

Is movement normal? Any info on the life-expectancy of aftermarket part?
I'm hoping to not have to do this again for several years or another 85,000 miles--not that it wasn't awesome to do!!

OCPD · February 25th, 2010, 18:03

Anyone? Should I ask under a new thread? ...???

oilhammer · February 26th, 2010, 04:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by oilhammer

You need an alternator pulley.

....

Have you checked that part yet?

jeschons · March 1st, 2010, 12:41

Hey Oilhammer:

Yep, my alternator clutch pulley failed. Slid out into the fan. Doesn't look like any damage, though. Had to cut the serpentine belt to get home. I'm going to take a whack at the clutch pulley, but how to I get the tensioner to relax so I can put the belt on? Any help would be greatly apprecaited. I enjoy reading your tips on this site. Thanks for the help.

JE

MOGolf · March 1st, 2010, 14:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeschons

Hey Oilhammer:

Yep, my alternator clutch pulley failed. Slid out into the fan. Doesn't look like any damage, though. Had to cut the serpentine belt to get home. I'm going to take a whack at the clutch pulley, but how to I get the tensioner to relax so I can put the belt on? Any help would be greatly apprecaited. I enjoy reading your tips on this site. Thanks for the help.

JE