My son in law needs a new alternator on his c max, it's a 2010 1.8 tdci.

Can anyone give me some pointers on removing the auxiliary belt? I have removed the front offside wheel and cowling but I cannot for the life of me see how to slacken the tensioner pulley to remove the belt.

It's probably something obvious staring me in the face but I've spent about 2 hours now trying to budge the thing and cannot figure it out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

There are two ways to do this.  The first is to use a Torx bit on the bolt in the centre of the pulley.  (Make sure it's a strong bit - the weaker ones could potentially snap).  Remember you're trying to rotate the tensioner around the base, so there is a bit of technique to it.

The other way is to wind a bolt in through this hole, which will then push the tensioner around.  I don't know what size bolt it takes unfortunately.

23 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

There are two ways to do this.  The first is to use a Torx bit on the bolt in the centre of the pulley.  (Make sure it's a strong bit - the weaker ones could potentially snap).  Remember you're trying to rotate the tensioner around the base, so there is a bit of technique to it.

The other way is to wind a bolt in through this hole, which will then push the tensioner around.  I don't know what size bolt it takes unfortunately.

Ok thanks for that, I did notice the bolt hole and tried that method but it became ridiculously tight after a while and didn't appear to do anything. 

Maybe I just need to apply a bit more force, is it possible for these things to seize up or will it eventually go? 

They do get stiffer over time, but won't necessarily free up again.  If it's not moving at all that's not a great sign.  Maybe the screw wasn't long enough?  Though as it's aluminum it will just strip the threads if the tensioner is genuinely too stiff.

42 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

They do get stiffer over time, but won't necessarily free up again.  If it's not moving at all that's not a great sign.  Maybe the screw wasn't long enough?  Though as it's aluminum it will just strip the threads if the tensioner is genuinely too stiff.

Ok, I'm under the car as we speak, bolt in the hole gone as far as it can. Won't go any further, the bolt is actually starting to bend. I've even tried gently tapping the tensioner with a hammer and it's just not budging. 

Options, new tensioner? Most likely. How to I remove it without removing the belt or do I need to cut the belt off and replace it?

I'm guessing no amount of wd40 is going to work with this?

 

You might be able to carefully slide the belt off of the tensioner pulleys as they're around the smooth side.  That won't work on any of the ribbed pulleys.  Otherwise yes you'll have to cut the belt off.

So I managed to get the belt off, damaged it slightly doing so therefore it will be replaced.

Removed the tensioner and as suspected it is completely seized. Not even the slightest bit of movement. 

Picking up a new one at 3pm today. Hopefully fitting won't be too bad although I know it will be awkward due to lack of room. Not going to bother sourcing an alternator yet because I've read a failed tensioner can give the same symptoms (battery light, charging failure etc)

Hopefully this will solve the problem. I'll post here if it does.

Update:

All back together, belt wasn't so bad to put on. Definitely easier than taking it off.

The bad news, still have a battery light on and with the engine running I only have 11.8v at the battery so I think the only other thing it can be is the alternator. Not really anything else that can cause this is there?

Tracking down an alternator is proving tricky. Plenty online but local is another matter.

I will get this car sorted though!

Found an alternator at a local breakers yard, after several hours and lots of swearing its finally fitted.

Definitely not the easiest job in the world (bring back ford cortinas!!)

One of the top bolts for the a/c compressor wouldn't tighten 100% but it's on and solid. 

The battery light is now off!!

Thanks for the help @TomsFocus, much appreciated. I'll stick around anyway because my son in law always has problems with cars and I've got an S-Max as well. 😁

Excellent, glad you got it sorted in the end!

My son in law has just messaged me after driving to work and said when he accelerated hard he is getting some squealing, presumably from the new belt.

Now I know that contaminants such as oil or grease on the belt can cause some slipping but I'm just wondering if there's anything I may have missed when replacing the tensioner, alternator or the belt? I assume there is nothing to actually manually adjust on these things. 

It did only happen under hard acceleration so I'm guessing it's probably just a bit of grease on the belt from when I fitted it.

Any other thoughts?

45 minutes ago, Sturose said:

Any other thoughts?

Wrong size belt ?

11 minutes ago, unofix said:

Wrong size belt ?

Double checked against the old belt. Same size