Focus 2009 1.8L Duratec-HE (MI4) PFI (125PS) Aux Belt Noise

[Bar72]

Hi all!  Focus 2009 1.8L Duratec-HE (MI4) PFI (125PS).  Not sure about this, sounds like a "swish, swish, swish" when car's ticking over coming from that pulley circled in red.

01/ Is that a tensioner?

02/ The drive belt looks shot too?

03-1/ Car has air-con, can I change that pulley and alternator belt without removing air-con belt?

03-2/ If that's a no and air-con belt has to come off, do I need special tool to refit air-con belt?

04/ Another question, was a new alternator fitted just before I bought car, I noticed when I had lights on at night that they were pulsing, almost in tandem with the "swish, swish, swish" sound.  Looked like the full beam popped on then off momentarily also?

Checked battery with multimeter at tickover and getting 14.35v over the battery posts so assume alternator is at least charging battery.

Any ideas? wanting car right before a long run up North next month.

thanks in advance.

[TomsFocus]

Technically it's an idler rather than a tensioner.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393457852810?

And yes, that belt is definitely past it's best lol!

[Bar72]

Many thanks for the link to idler pulley, appreciated.  how to i relieve tension on the belt?

[sierra3dr]

2 hours ago, Bar72 said:

Many thanks for the link to idler pulley, appreciated.  how to i relieve tension on the belt?

I'm getting the impression it is a stretch fit 

 

[TomsFocus]

2 hours ago, Bar72 said:

Many thanks for the link to idler pulley, appreciated.  how to i relieve tension on the belt?

It's a stretch belt.  You're meant to cut them off. 

Though I slip a thin pry bar under them to slide them off without damage...just in case there's an issue with the new one and I have to re-fit in the meantime.

[JONATHAN_11_80]

Did this job on my 1.8 duratec the idler is the tensioner you need to use a long thickish screwdriver as a lever and loosen the 2 bolts at the top and loosen the nut at the bottom and lever the assembly away from the engine block and then right and the belt will slip off.  The aircon belt needs to be cut off and is a total utter ***** to replace.  The alternator belt is fairly easy.  Also replace the pulley on the tensioner idler.  I also did the alternator cheap recon ones are very poor quality and will cause your issue.

[sierra3dr]

The earlier Duratec-HE's had the tensioner. So Ford decided,and had the wisdom to phase the tensioner out 😒 which is bizarre....belt #6PK1249SF  (finis #1517566)  You are best doing the AC belt aswell  5PK705SF (finis #1346034)

[Bar72]

30 minutes ago, JONATHAN_11_80 said:

Did this job on my 1.8 duratec the idler is the tensioner you need to use a long thickish screwdriver as a lever and loosen the 2 bolts at the top and loosen the nut at the bottom and lever the assembly away from the engine block and then right and the belt will slip off.  The aircon belt needs to be cut off and is a total utter ***** to replace.  The alternator belt is fairly easy.  Also replace the pulley on the tensioner idler.  I also did the alternator cheap recon ones are very poor quality and will cause your issue.

 

Many thanks for the guide.  "Also replace the pulley on the tensioner idler"  Is that the pulley I circled in original picture?  .Just another question, can I do just the alternator belt on its own though and just leave the A/C belt? thanks

 

 

21 minutes ago, sierra3dr said:

The earlier Duratec-HE's had the tensioner. So Ford decided,and had the wisdom to phase the tensioner out 😒 which is bizarre....belt #6PK1249SF  (finis #1517566)  You are best doing the AC belt aswell  5PK705SF (finis #1346034)

 

Appreciate the info & part numbers.  Just bought car and am skint for a bit so looking to leave the A/C belt at the moment, if I can?

[rd457]

You can't renew the main auxiliary belt without removing the A/C belt, at least on the 1.6, I presume it's the same for the 1.8.

You don't need a special tool for belt removal, though it may help make it easier. I did without when I removed them for my timing belt replacement. I since bought a cheap tool and it's useless for the main belt but helped with the A/C belt. The way I did the A/C belt the first time, if I recall correctly, and I may have described it accurately in a past post of mine, was as follows: When taking it off, I recall grabbing hold of it with one hand and pulling it towards myself whilst turning the crankshaft with a ratchet, actually I think I also wedged a flexible plastic spatula between the belt and the A/C pulley which helped get it over the lip, and thus I managed to work it off without damage. When putting it back on I think I did something similar, I can't really remember well enough, but I recall it ending up back on but one tooth off, so to fix this I just jammed the spatula back in, rotated it until the spatula fell back out the other end, and this successfully lifted it out of the tracks and let it realign itself properly.

[JONATHAN_11_80]

No you need to remove the aircon belt.  I failed to get the aircon belt on the first time so drove around without it for a few weeks and tried again.  Don't use screwdrivers you will damage the pulleys.  There us a stretch drive belt tool you can buy mine broke the first time I used it tho.

[sierra3dr]

What's the harm in going back to the tensioner setup?  Less faffing about

[Bar72]

many thanks for the additional info.  Away out to get the parts today.

[Bar72]

so Ford appears to not have any idler pulleys (1465253) in stock at all the dealers in a 20 mile radius.  anyone know if the pulley removes from the bracket so I can replace just the pulley instead of the complete unit? as in replasce the below part but use the old bracket / bolt?

 

[TomsFocus]

2 minutes ago, Bar72 said:

so Ford appears to not have any idler pulleys (1465253) in stock at all the dealers in a 20 mile radius.  anyone know if the pulley removes from the bracket so I can replace just the pulley instead of the complete unit? as in replasce the below part but use the old bracket / bolt?

Yes, that's fine.  I'd use some threadlock on the bolt to make sure it won't vibrate loose over time.

[Bar72]

6 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Yes, that's fine.  I'd use some threadlock on the bolt to make sure it won't vibrate loose over time.

Great! many thanks for confiming that.  Just a final question, any idea of the torque setting for the bolt, in Nm?

[TomsFocus]

25 minutes ago, Bar72 said:

any idea of the torque setting for the bolt, in Nm?

Can't help with that one I'm afraid.  

[Bar72]

no worries ;

[rd457]

1 hour ago, Bar72 said:

Just a final question, any idea of the torque setting for the bolt, in Nm?

Chapter 1 of the Haynes manual includes instructions for loosening the idler/tensioner as described above for replacing the auxiliary belt, and at the start of the chapter it says that the torque for the "auxiliary drive belt idler pulley mounting bolts/nuts" is 25 Nm, but it's not clear to me whether this includes the bolt attaching the actual idler puller to the bracket, or is just for the bolts for the bracket itself only, since the instructions don't include removing the idler itself from the bracket. I had a quick look but couldn't find any specific instructions for replacing that pulley, so perhaps they decided to not cover it because it was so obvious how to replace, but did not think to provide the torque spec somewhere, or maybe the one just quoted does also apply to that. 🤷‍♂️

[Bar72]

yes I've just picked up a Haynes tonight and there is no mention of torque settings for that bolt.  Even had a look on Gates webcat to see if they offer it but it's not in the pdf document either.  Going to mark the head of the bolt with some tipex then remove bolt and count number of turns.  When refitting, I'll either match number of turns or alternatively use a torque wrench, gently increasing the values (I'll start at 15Nm and go up in 5Nm increments) until it clicks where the tipex originally was.  If I get accurate value I'll post it as it doesn't appear to be anywhere online.  many thanks for you taking the time though, appreciated ;

[sierra3dr]

Most are 20-25NM  looking on most car forums

[Bar72]

agree.  I did have 25Nm in my head so I'll be aiming for that when I get job done.  Probably saturday now as it's raining up here tomorrow

[unofix]

20 minutes ago, Bar72 said:

Probably Saturday now as it's raining up here tomorrow

Yes I'd seen the SNP forecast. They said it was quite stormy 😉

https://youtu.be/Mn138QK9IgI

[Bar72]

my grannie was right! "never trust a women with thin lips" 😄

[Bar72]

As I said guys, did the job on Saturday so I can confirm it is indeed 25Nm for the pulley to bracket.  Marked the bolt with a marker pen then removed it.  When I refitted, I followed TomsFocus advice and used a bit of thread lock.  I set torque wrench at 25Nm and the marker pen mark was in the same spot before removal.  Just another bit of info..  following JONATHAN_11_80s mention of the A/C belt being a pain, I bought one of those laser stretchy belt tools.  Made the A/C belt fitting really easy, hope this helps someone else in future.

 

[tomo2001]

Has the 'swish' noise gone?