martin_prince
Member
First, I want to say that I researched this extensively before making this post.
The car is a 2000 new beetle, manual trans, 119,000 miles, TB done at 78,000 miles in 2012. This was a 60,000 mile belt originally, it was WAY overdue when I bought it. Had it serviced at one of the recommended companies from this site (Robert's in Mountville, PA), they assured me they would use only OEM quality parts, the belt itself is a Contitech.
My car developed a slight noise over the winter that sounds like a worn bearing, or poorly tracking belt. There are two very specific symptoms about it though: it only does it after the car is warmed up, and it only does it at idle. If it is brought slightly off idle, the noise goes away.
I initially checked over things with my mechanic's stethoscope and heard a noise in the serpentine belt tensioner. So, I bought a replacement and a new alt. pulley to do at the same time. The tensioner pulley was definitely worn, essentially had no grease in it and spun very freely, and was generally not very smooth. I thought for sure that was the problem. All other accessories and the idler pulley all spin very nicely, and seem to be in good shape. After reassembling with a new belt, the noise is still there.
As I mentioned, I did a lot of research on this page. I read of a lot of people who had success with a touch of candle wax on the edge of the belt. I tried this (on the outermost edge) and it changed nothing. I also heard of people dripping water on the backside of the belt and this making the noise go away briefly. This also did nothing.
Here are two videos of the car idling, one with the belt cover on, and one with it off. As far as I can tell, the noise seems to emanate from the back corner of the engine, closest to the passenger side strut tower.
Cover off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2HEVYpgE8A
Cover on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKfaZ-pap70
The car is a 2000 new beetle, manual trans, 119,000 miles, TB done at 78,000 miles in 2012. This was a 60,000 mile belt originally, it was WAY overdue when I bought it. Had it serviced at one of the recommended companies from this site (Robert's in Mountville, PA), they assured me they would use only OEM quality parts, the belt itself is a Contitech.
My car developed a slight noise over the winter that sounds like a worn bearing, or poorly tracking belt. There are two very specific symptoms about it though: it only does it after the car is warmed up, and it only does it at idle. If it is brought slightly off idle, the noise goes away.
I initially checked over things with my mechanic's stethoscope and heard a noise in the serpentine belt tensioner. So, I bought a replacement and a new alt. pulley to do at the same time. The tensioner pulley was definitely worn, essentially had no grease in it and spun very freely, and was generally not very smooth. I thought for sure that was the problem. All other accessories and the idler pulley all spin very nicely, and seem to be in good shape. After reassembling with a new belt, the noise is still there.
As I mentioned, I did a lot of research on this page. I read of a lot of people who had success with a touch of candle wax on the edge of the belt. I tried this (on the outermost edge) and it changed nothing. I also heard of people dripping water on the backside of the belt and this making the noise go away briefly. This also did nothing.
Here are two videos of the car idling, one with the belt cover on, and one with it off. As far as I can tell, the noise seems to emanate from the back corner of the engine, closest to the passenger side strut tower.
Cover off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2HEVYpgE8A
Cover on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKfaZ-pap70
