Ultimate winter mode? Problems and solutions..., also, in cab heater anyone?

[shorttimer]

What's winter? It was 80 today.

[Enslaved_Pickle]

I took the tensioner arm out today and inspected it and the bushing. They are both fine, no play and no grinded down arm. I re-greased the crap out of it and made sure the pulley spun freely. Threw it all back together and started the car,..... It still squeaks its slightly quieter but still there. Any other ideas?

[theman53]

My tensioner looked fine and the pulley spun freely. I replaced it and the noise stopped immediately. If it got quieter after greasing I would still guess that is your issue, you probably just need new.

[Enslaved_Pickle]

Soooo, the squeaking has gotten much worse, it appears that the crank pulley is wobbling more than it was when i bout the car.

I have removed the factory crank bolt and inspected the keyway and there was no signs of wear. I bought a new crank bolt, covered it in red locktite and torqued it correctly. I have also marked a line across the bolt and the sprocket so i would know if it started to loosen.

So now i've replaced
- crank pulley
- crank sprocket bolt
- tensioner and pulley
- 3 different serp belts


 the bolt has not moved at all, i'm ready to throw my rusty 1.6na in just to stop the squeaking Any ideas?

[theman53]

did you get a new tensioner, or did you only grease it and reinstall it?

Again, mine looked fine and felt fine, but when I put the new one on all the noise went away.

[Enslaved_Pickle]

Did you get your parts online? I called the dealer today and they can't get the bushings or the tensioner arm

[theman53]

http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29_90&products_id=629

Yes, I did, but mine is MKIV. I don't know if the tensioners are the same, but I do know mine stopped immediately after replacing. I even talked about it to my mechanic friend and he thought it was so bad that the bearing or clutched pulley was going out of the alt and I should start saving for that. But when I replaced the arm and the entire deal the noise went away completely.

[srgtlord]

Here is the link to the parts you need for the vw A3 serpentine setup

http://www.idparts.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=29_90&filter_sess_make=Volkswagen&filter_sess_year=1996&filter_sess_vehicle=15

[theman53]

That doesn't have the new arm and all the bushings that I could see. That is why I didn't post that for him. I think the problem is in the pivot of the arm when under all that tension.

[vanbcguy]

I see both an arm and the bushings on that link, even the seals for the arm?

[theman53]

My bad, I missed that arm before ...2x

[Enslaved_Pickle]

Alright, i'm officially done, if the next thing i do doesn't get the squeak to stop i'm parting out the car.

I changed the tensioner, the tensioner arm and both bushings yesterday with new oem vw parts and it still squeaks!!!!

Anyone want an aaz?

[vanbcguy]

Have you tried using a mechanics stethoscope to narrow down the source of the squeak?

Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk

[srgtlord]

maybe its the alternator? Or the harmonic balancer?

[Enslaved_Pickle]

Already swapped alternators and harmonic balancer is new