hellsVR6 0 Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Ah, so much for my ramblings last night about spending money on my VR! FOOK!Had to make the journey from Manchester to Newcastle this morning to meet up with some clients from work, big important job and all that. Except I didn't make it. Only made it as far as South Shields because as soon as I got off the slip road of the A194M the dreaded TENSIONER BELT fried on my car and it went bang! Up in a cloud of smoke! How ironic is it that I had it booked in with Awesome GTi on Friday to have this looked at/replaced anyway.....The nice men from the Highways Agency towed me round the corner to the service station but the silly sods left my front bumper lip on the road and it got killed by a wagon...so first off a new one of them....fleabay here I come and will be putting in a receipt to HM Government as it was their fault for leaving it there, and they admitted it!Next the nice man from the AA came to rescue me, whipped off the belt which was hanging from the car anyway. It was absolutely bu99ered, melted to sh@t! Then the NASTY LADY from the AA on the phone said to him I only had basic membership, i.e. roadside repair! I protest! I paid over £130 earlier on this year for FULL MEMBERSHIP but some numpty at their end has not put it on for me and so was shouting down the phone at recovery man (not his fault) and said no way would they upgrade me so I could get towed home. £2 a mile after 50 miles which would have meant over £200 to get home. Errrr NO WAY JOSE!So, had to get towed to Byker (Grove..lol) to a garage which agreed to look at my car straight away, which was a result. Bad result is that they had to order the parts (new tensioner belt and tensioner) from VDub which wouldn't arrive until tomorrow morning.So consequently I didn't fancy hanging around in Newcastle on my own for 24 hours while they sorted it so hot footed it for some retail therapy first (had to be done...to relieve stress!) and then a nice 3 hour train journey home.So I'm £55 lighter for a return train fare from Newcastle as I am going back there in the morning to pick car up, £167 to get it fixed (boo). Thank the lord for expenses and mileage claims, as at least the money I will make in mileage will pay for the repair. 40p a mile x 400 ish miles = £160 so at least haven't had to find the money in a way, but will be just less well off at the end of the month when the mileage claim comes in....Attached piccy of my poorly VR being loaded up onto the AA truck.Beware, if you hear so much as a squeak, for god's sake get this bloody job done! A new belt is £24...(and then 60 odd quid for tensioner plus labour plus VAT plus hassle, stress, long boring train journeys etc etc)...I've learned my lesson the hard way!Ah well, I'm still smiling after all that. NOTHING is going to wipe the grin off my face from yesterday and so have that "Top of the League" smug grin about me in any case! heehee!Moderator edit by: TheGoth Link to post Share on other sites
drue1 0 Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 sorry to hear matey Link to post Share on other sites
hellsVR6 0 Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Ta. Ah well new bumper lip ordered from fleabay for £25 now so that bit's sorted at least! And an email requesting a refund of costs has gone to the Highways Agency! Well one can but try..hehe Link to post Share on other sites
stusnook 0 Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Please can you describe the noise that this belt was making before it self-destructed? My car often makes a kind of squeaky type groan from startup, but it disappears after 3 or 4 seconds and does not re-occurr at all during the journey. I've always put it down to power steering pump getting up to pressure (or something!) - but this was a complete guess with my 'denial meter' cranked up!Should I worry about 'my' noise and how does it compare to yours? Link to post Share on other sites
hellsVR6 0 Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Hm well maybe your noise isn't the same.Basically when you are going through the revs you hear a whining noise and sometimes it gets worse whilst driving. My own fault for playing the bloody Foo Fighters at top belt all the time on the stereo as I wasn't noticing how bad it was!You know when you get the undertone rumble of the engine, well that's coupled with a real whirrrrrrrrrrr noise, which is basically the sound of the tensioner belt slipping. Best pop the bonnet and have the engine running and you will hear the belt if there is anything wrong with it. Even Tinny22 noticed it when i was pulling into the service station when we all met up before Tatton Park last Sunday so clearly it wasn't normal.And there's me thinking I was getting attention from people's heads turning because they heard this fabulous V6 engine rumbling down the street.......LOL!! They were all thinking "jesus what's that racket coming from that car!!!! lolAnd on breakdown it went squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee BANG! Big puff of blue smoke from exhaust (thought I was burning oil at first but obv it was red hot) and then couldn't steer the car as the battery light was on, cos the alternator wasn't driving it any more. Link to post Share on other sites
stusnook 0 Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Thanks for posting reply (and so promptly too - nice one!).It does seem then that the noise I get is completely different, so I will continue to ignore it!! Link to post Share on other sites
mightyvr6 0 Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 The most common cause of the belt snapping is the actually tensioner bearing giving up causing the tensioner pulley to sieze up. There's a really cheap fix for this as a new bearing can be fitted into the pulley - costs about £5. This is really worth doing as the bearing will run dry eventually and cause the belt to snap. Link to post Share on other sites
hellsVR6 0 Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Hmm don't I know it! Have even studied the diagrams on here to do it but was blown if I am skilled enough to do it. Will post a pic of the belt when I get car back tomorrow. It's not so much snapped as err melted into a bizarre blob! Link to post Share on other sites
Buzzark 0 Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Helen, sad news indeed!Glad you're alright though and the VR is now returned non the worse for it's ordeal.It was bloody noisey to be fair and it sounds like the tensioner had seized and caused the belt to drag over it, normal slipping from slackness probably wouldn't do that damage.As you found out, the belt also drives the power steering - they get heavy without don't they! Link to post Share on other sites
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