After many years of trouble free motoring, a rattle is evident somewhere associated with the numerous pulleys on the auxilliary Belt. It sounds as though it is in the power steering unit and is most noticeable when the engine is cold at about 2000rpm. More disturbing though, are two pieces of debris that have appeared.
At first I thought the approx 200mm x 6mm length of strip steel was debris from the road which had lodged itself behind the top pulley (Power Steeriing Unit?). A few days later - today I found lodged between the the same unit and the engine block what appears to be part of a grey, polished through wear, broken circular gasket.
There is no real obvious connection with any of the components associated with the pulleys. Performance is not affected in any way. But something tells me all is not well?
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the bottom crank pulley is a very common fault, to the fact there is now a replacement pulley available that isnt a kind of dual mass affair like the standard one. I would check this first before anything else. Second would be check the power steering pulley for play.>> After many years of trouble free motoring a rattle is evident somewhere associated with the
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nibbles
The metal strip is the harbinger of doom. The bottom crank pulley is breaking up and there is a very high risk that it will take the cambelt with it and cause catastrophic engine damage.
DO NOT drive it. Replace the bottom crank pulley immediately. It's not an easy job for an amateur; so consider getting it done professionally.
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sorry but Ive never heard of one taking the cambelt with it and if you can change an alternator belt and own a 22mm socket you can change the pulley.
SQ
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 21/10/2008 at 21:12
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I've seens the results of several and heard of many more. The pulley debris gets into the cam cover and takes the belt off.
Putting a socket on the pulley is the easy bit. If you haven't got a hammer-gun to turn it; holding the engine is not so easy.
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I dismantle cars for a living, have seen many pulley failures but never one that has killed a timing belt, not saying it isnt possible, just unlikely. Either way though your right in saying sort it ASAP. Undoing isnt too bad on them with the car all intact. Just jack one side, have an assistant put the car in gear and stand on the brakes as hard as possible (engine off!!) while you pull on the socket, use a breaker bar if required. Its a standard RH thread anyway so lefty loosey, righty tighty.
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sorry but Ive never heard of one taking the cambelt with it ....
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=25098
I'm pretty sure there are at least a couple of other posts that "DL" contributed to where he's seen the belt wrecked.
groups.msn.com/honestjohn/problems.msnw?action=Sho...3
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 21/10/2008 at 21:23
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My thanks to all you guys out there who have probably saved me lots of dosh! By the way, I live in South Africa and it is a long way to the nearest agent, and they don't have the pulley in stock.
Not having worked on a 406 before - never been a need - are the pulley and belt difficult to change and set up?
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nibbles
Ah; that puts a different slant on it. After you've located a pulley; if you're a bit handy with the spanners, then by all means have a go.
The pulley is held with a central bolt which is done up FT - fairly tight. [There is both a torque and an angle setting involved.]
The easiest way to shift it is a air-powered hammer-gun - or use track's suggested method above.
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If you're going that far, and have to order and collect parts, would it make sense to do the cambelt and water pump at the same time?
Unless you know when it was done last.
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Thanks. I have a feeling that given the advice to date I might tow it to the local garage workshop that seems to repair anything with wheels and an engine, armed with a belt and pulley and offer guidance as necessary!
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A 'rattle' became noticeable this year from my 306 HDi 1999 at about 65K, so before any metal shards appeared I got the crank pulley replaced. The rattle went; the downside is that the pulley cost £170 before fitting. The indy asked whether I really wanted the job done, but since I intend to keep the car (which is still worth more than that) I agreed.
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To all who contributed to the solution to my problem ...... Thanks. I had the belt and pulley replaced by the local garage and all is well. The old pulley was in a dreadful state and the belt was looking pretty tired as well.
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