Timing Belt Whine

[James_m 0]

Hi all, got myself a bit of a timing belt whine since my 205 mi has been back on the road.

Thing is, its only when the engine is hot which appears to be the total opposite of what others have experienced by looking through previous threads. Everybody seems to get a whine when cold which goes away, but i get a completly silent belt noise when cold which turns into an awesome supercharger esque whine above 3k when the engine is up to temp

Belt, tensioners and pump are a year and 5k old, though im aware that means nothing with the crap thats sold as pattern parts.

Any ideas people?

 

Also, access to the tensioners from in car of a 205. Wheel off and through the arch, or try from above?

 

Cheers James.

[Anthony 1,003]

Belt might be a little tight, as that can whine when everything warms up (but fine when cold)

 

As for the tensioners, I personally do them from underneath - the inlet side one is very easy, the exhaust side one's a bit fiddly (especially if you've fat hands) but still easier than trying to get at it from above in my opinion.

[James_m 0]

Cheers Anthony, it does'nt really feel that tight as i already have the cover off, but i will slacken it a bit more using your method and see what happens

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I agree, whine when hot is down to belt too tight in my experience.

[gti_al 1]

I had this exact same issue. The belt was fractionally too tight, and it took 5 or 6 goes to get it right

[pee vee 1]

have you got the belt covers on or off??

mine was a little tight, but sorted that when my new cams went in... but as i dont have the belt covers

you can still hear it a bit as everything else is pretty quiet lol

[Sloppy 0]

agrred i would also say its to tight.

[kyepan 291]

same here, mine whined when i put it on too tight.

[James_m 0]

Had a go at retensioning it this is evening. Think ive gone too far the other way and its now too loose. Seems to be a fair bit of deflection when running, and the belt comes fairly close to the cover at certain rpm's.

Bit tricky this, as i was finding it quite difficult to get the tension i wanted whilst doing the bolt up with an allen key

Ive heard the belt is supposed to be allowed to turn 90 by hand on the inlet side, but im no where near that even slightly loose....

[Redtop 14 2 Cars]

Best way is to probably do it with a seem tool. Thats what it says in the genuine manuals for the 405 mi 16, and thats how I set mine. Get someone to lend you one and see how you get on with that. I think you can still get the figures for it on service box, but if you can't pm me and I should be able to dig out my old manuals .

[andychalmers 0]

on my old MI16 I fitted it first time too tight, sounded awsome just like a supercharger but slackend it ok and went quite. For tension I did by hand, if you car'nt get a tool, a 90 deg twist with medium force with finger & thumb should be ok. Full force no more that 135 deg approx. wind engine over a few times by hand & check again.

[James_m 0]

Still battling this

Had a little break from 205's though so its not as if ive been trying every day!

 

So, its getting to the stage where its as loose as i dare cold, and still tight when hot! I know metals are going to expand, but is it possible the belt is shrinking?

Im tempted to try another.

 

Its quite suprising the difference in tension hot/cold

 

Maybe im being over cautious here im not sure, how much deflection when running is acceptable?

Tbh, ive never heard of anyone skipping teeth from not enough tension....

[iamjackiechan 0]

hi

you should tighten the belt until you can only turn it 90 degrees.

that should be the perfect tightness.

and yea, as the engine warms up the metal parts will expand slightly

tensioning the belt even more.