Auxiliary Belt And Pre Tensioner, Cost To Replace?

[PabloPaul]

Problems just go on and on with my 06 plate 1.8 tdci focus...

visiting my daughter today 76 miles from home. horrible rattle/ squeak coming from under the bonnet. got it checked (son in law knows his stuff) he pointed out the wobbling auxiliary belt and said it's that and likely the tensioner pulley or idler pulley. I'm terrified to drive home now and most likely going to get towed back home but then it'll need replacing of course...

Anyone know roughly what this should cost to replace? And merry Christmas to you all :)

[stef123]

The auxiliary drivebelt tensioner on the 1.8 has both the tensioner pulley and the idler pulley combined.

Parts should be around £70 for quality brands (INA tensioner and dayco/conti belt)

An hour labour should probably cover it so add on £40? At an Indy

[PabloPaul]

Thank you do much for that quick reply. not as bad as I feared then! I take it driving a car with this problem isn't safe? The belt is wobbling side to side when the engine is running. probably safer getting towed the 70 odd miles home then getting it fixed ASAP?

[stef123]

I definitely wouldn't recommend driving it, you risk the pulley or bearing inside it self destructing and then the car will need recovered from the roadside.

That said, if it were mine and depending upon how bad the wobble is I would probably risk it.

Fire your registration into eurocarparts and have a look under engine parts for the belt and tensioner. I've just done a belt and tensioner on a petrol engine focus, INA tensioner and genuine belt ford come to £70 and £30 for fitting.

[PabloPaul]

Thanks for your help, really appreciate it. Gonna sleep on it and decide in the morning if we're going to drive or get the recovery here before we set off.

[STEADS]

Had this prob on a clio once belt did snap but was able to get it home in day light wouldn't of chanced it at night as lights would of drained the battery but in day light drove no problem and twice the distance you are planning on travelling

[PabloPaul]

Thanks again. Got recovered home today, decided not to risk driving it (the nice recovery chap said it would have been very risky attempting such a long drive anyway)

He also advised me get my faulty number 4 injector sorted as the engine is misfiring like crazy so now I'm looking for a reputable mechanic in or around Chester to replace the auxilliary belt/ tensoner idle thingie (you can see my level of technical skill shining through here!) and also either fix the injector or replace it.

Nice start to the new year, a £400- £500 repair bill (if I'm lucky!) ;(

[STEADS]

Paul I can recommend Cheshire oaks service station by the ellesmer port stadium guy called Gordon hill known him and a lot of his guys for years any job I can't tackle I always take it to them fair prices and friendly service and advice

[STEADS]

You say you have a miss fire on number 4 injector it doesn't happen to miss at around 60 mph does it have the same prob with mine and I just live with it no detriment to the running only at that speed so I just sit above or below that and it's fine .

[PabloPaul]

Thanks Neil I'll give them a call.

No it's a misfire as soon as the engine starts, it's at idle and everything from then on it sounds awful. We had learned to live with that (i.e. had no money to deal with it and buried our heads in the sand about it) and we had 2 different mechanics tell us that, apart from sounding rough and losing power, driving on 3 out of 4 injectors would do no actual harm to the car, the chap who recovered us home from Harlech in Wales yesterday advised to get the injector fixed asap as we shouldn't be driving at all with it in the state it's in.

So, given that the car needs the new auxilliary belt/ tensioner thing and it's a garage job anyway we had decided to bite the bullet and try to find the extra money to get the injector fixed at the same garage visit. Hopefully then we will have our lovely car back to how it was when we bought it :)

[vibeone]

I think it cost me around £110 for parts and fitting for the belt and main tensioner on my previous mk1.5 1.8 (I think roughly the same?).

However, that didn't fix it - it was actually the belt pulley thing on the end of the engine itself - it fell apart (literally) when removed, and although it sounds costly, it was a lot cheaper than the tensioner.

[PabloPaul]

We have a mobile mechanic coming tomorrow (he was listed in the good garage guide so fingers crossed he doesn't attempt to rip us off!)

He said best course of action is to get the auxilliary belt/ tensioner/ pulley fixed and renewed at our home address so we can then safely drive to their garage for proper diagnostics of the injector.

Dreading the final repair bill but it needs doing so I'm just hoping it's not too bad...

[vibeone]

We have a mobile mechanic coming tomorrow (he was listed in the good garage guide so fingers crossed he doesn't attempt to rip us off!)

He said best course of action is to get the auxilliary belt/ tensioner/ pulley fixed and renewed at our home address so we can then safely drive to their garage for proper diagnostics of the injector.

Dreading the final repair bill but it needs doing so I'm just hoping it's not too bad...

Meh.... I'd have driven mine, but to be fair mine just sounded like a bag of nails - from what you describe about the belt moving maybe it's for the best!

Just don't forget about that engine idler/pulley thing - was the last thing I suspected (more so if the tensioner/belt issue doesn't sort things!)

[PabloPaul]

oh it just gets worse. The main bad rattle was the water pump bearings so that's another job to do for the mechanic today. I'm not normally prone to complaining about life (I'm a firm believer that there's always someone worse off) but seriously? All this? at Christmas??

[STEADS]

Have the cambelt done at the same time gotta come off anyway to do the pump more than likely the pump bearings made it sound like a bag of nails.

[PabloPaul]

Ok, 48 hours and £280 later I have the following:

New auxiliary belt, tensionser/ idler and water pump along with 24 hours of diagnostics which he says show no faults with the car and certainly no fault with any injectors (possible sigh of relief!)

He said that a similar issue on some VWs he's worked on (lack of power, rough idling etc) with no associated fault codes has led him to the MAF sensor being dirty or needing replacing so this is what I'm going to check out on my car next.

Thanks again for the input everyone it's really appreciated :)

[IINexusII]

Whats your mileage? did you replace the timing belt along with the water pump?

[PabloPaul]

It's at about 95k.

No didn't get the timing belt done this time, the main issue was the water pump had split and was hanging off which had pulled the aux belt and tensioner off with it. Am I right in saying that the timing belt is a totally different job and part of the engine to the aux belt? And a bigger job? What I mean is, for someone working on the aux belt/ water pump it's not just a case of changing the timing belt in the same area he's working on?

I plan on getting the timing belt done next month anyway when my bank account has had time to recover lol

[IINexusII]

Im sure he would have taken off the timing cover to get the water pump off so yes it would have been in the same area and probably half an hour maximum to get it replaced.

[PabloPaul]

Oh thats bad but too late now as the work is all done. not to worry I'll get timing belt done shortly.

For now though I'm going to try and shift this warning light. The mechanic said try maf sensor, this is mine does it look dirty enough to cause problems? won't hurt to clean it either way I guess so I'm heading to Halfords to see what I can get...

[IINexusII]

Thats fine then as long as its getting changed. probably would have cost you less overall if you did it before but no worries.

Your MAF looks fine but give that a clean anyway and see if it makes the car run better.

[PabloPaul]

Thanks James, teh car is running really nicely since the water pump/ aux belt and idler were changed, still have the warning light but no symptoms to go with it, bought some electrical component cleaner from Halfords, will give it a blast on Saturday when my night shifts are over.

Do I just spray it directly onto the component shown in my photo? Then let it dry before reassembling?

[STEADS]

Paul had the same prob on my 18 TDCI give it a good spray with carb clean or equivalent and then have your light switched off it might reappear and might do this spasmodically but if it's like mine was it will sort itself out mines now off permanently don't get ripped at twenty quid a through either to put the light out only takes seconds and there plenty of us in the area with the code readers by the way don't want to dampen things but Cheshire oaks service station did my cam belt water pump and leaking hose for less .gordons an honest guy and wouldn't even try to have you over worth a call next time you have a prob (hopefully you don't ) him and is lads are very helpful .

[PabloPaul]

Thanks for the offer I appreciate it and will likely take you up on that kind offer soon (payment in tea and biscuits? ) I was going to go to Cheshire Oaks but didn't want to risk driving with the water pump/ aux belt hanging off hence me calling a mobile mechanic (who was listed in the good garage guide and he seems a decent honest guy) the extra expense was for the diagnostics which has thankfully stated that my injectors are fine. car is driving wonderfully since the repairs, the engine sounds as good as new with no noises other than the normal diesel engine note...

[Jim_Cambridge]

On 12/26/2014 at 12:07 AM, stef123 said:

The auxiliary drivebelt tensioner on the 1.8 has both the tensioner pulley and the idler pulley combined.

Parts should be around £70 for quality brands (INA tensioner and dayco/conti belt)

An hour labour should probably cover it so add on £40? At an Indy

Picking this up from a long time back.... I know this was 7 years ago, but I've just been quoted £300 by Ford dealer to do (apparently) this job, does that sound rather steep?