Auxiliary Belt Tensioner Pulley

[mecamero]

Does anyone have any experience of changing the auxiliary belt tensioner pulley? My tensioner seems to have seized today. There doesn't seem to be anything on this in the Haynes manual, other than how to change the auxiliary belt. Access seems to be at least part of the problem.

My car is a 1997 V40 2.0 Petrol CD.

[scottishvolvo]

Access is THE problem. Easier on a lift.

[Rufe]

Vadis is vague really, but i can show you what it lists, it doesnt really show much info about removing tensioner specifically, but in case it may help, here you go...



I notice your from Swansea, and I believe you bought these parts from myself today? If so i am the big fella in the parts department who you ordered these with and I checked out the fitting of the tensioner on Vadis for you, but i know there wasnt much i could say really, as you can see from the image above

Simon

[mecamero]

Hi
Thanks for your reply Rufe and for your help in the parts department today, yes it was me you served. I have had a look at the tensioner since getting it home and believe that it must be bolted in from the back, not the bolt which holds the pulley onto the front of the tensioner. In the back of the tensioner, there is a threaded hole which looks like you must have to secure it with a bolt from the back. I was wondering if you have to remove the alternator or something to get at the bolt.
Any pointers from anyone would be helpful.
Thanks,
Ian

[Rufe]

yes your right, looking at the partds catalogue again you can see this bolt (no 7) which appears to bolt into it from behind



hopefuly someone with experience of changing one of these will be here to help you soon enough

Simon

[scottishvolvo]

If you have air-con I seem to remember being told this unit needs to be either moved or removed(not disconnected fully). I had mine done by a local garage which I had used for years until they charged me a huge amount of money(labour, I supplied the part) for changing it. he told me it had taken him almost a full day to do the job on his lifter, I reckon I could have done it in about 1 to 2 hours tops in the same conditions.

[Rufe]

your probably right, as the Volvo standard time for this is 0.6 hours (36 minutes) for doing the belt, tensioner mechanism and idler pulley. Obviously this is for a trained volvo technician in volvo workshop conditions, but still does not appear to be a huge job.

(actually the turbo petrol versions are more difficult and have another hour added on that time)

[mecamero]

Thanks for the advice, I am going to attempt the job tomorrow. Thanks particularly to Simon (Rufe) for the exploded diagram, that was very useful.
I will post a note as to how I got on.
Ian

[chb]

I have the same car as you (well a 1998 V40 2.0CD non-turbo).
Last year it developed a squeel, like a slipping fanbelt.
It turned out to be the alternator, but I had most of the bits off and changed that linked to the aux drive belt to discover this.
I don't profess to remember the details of how I fitted what, but I remember that one of the pulleys was a real sod to fit (the first time!) and required a good bit of dexterity to get it in. I did not at any stage remove the air-con gubbins.

One thing I did buy that made the job MUCH easier was an extra long closed end ring spanner. This is about 14" long and made the job much more do-able.

The other thing I rember is that one of the bolts is right opposite a thick crossmember. Use an open endeded spanner to un-do it once it is cracked off. I have a set of posh halfords pro ratched spanners (non reversing). I backed the bolt out, but had to dismantle the spanner in situ to get it out due to lack of clearance.

I also found a 2.5 or 3mm alen key handy for locking the tensioner in the slack position.

I did all this with one side of car jacked up.

[scottishvolvo]

Sorry, just re-read the original post. The pulley can be swapped without all the other aggro, mine was the whole tensioner, this is where bolt number 7 would come in to play from the diagram. Thanks chb, made me check.