Topic

Can anyone throw some light on this please.

Trundling along at just over 2,000rpm on a straight road with hardly any throttle when there is a horrendous clanging from behind me which sounds like something being dragged along the road.

Pulled over straight away, the noise is coming from the engine bay, possibly the RH side, rev related and sounds like a metal to metal clanging.

There was nothing obvious so I decided to limp home. Made a U-turn (to the left here in France) and the noise reduced during the turn and had disappeared by the time I was straight in the other direction.

20 or so miles since, running perfectly, no unusual noises, revs freely and ticks over as normal.

Approx 32,000 miles, about 14,000 since cam belt change (but about 6 years, intend to change soon).

Any comments or clues would be most Welcome.

I would start by looking at the brake pads on both sides.

But the noise was revs-related at a standstill?

I think it's a case of removing the rear wheel on drivers side and having a good investigation...check damper hasn't broken up...they have a centre rubber that can break away ...I've seen them where the centre dampening band is oozing out like cream on a cake...alternator bearing???...

Ah thanks, alternator bearing sounds a possibility. Will have a good look when it cools down. Temperatures are in the mid to high thirties here at the moment!

FrenchTF wrote: wrote:

But the noise was revs-related at a standstill?

Sorry, missed that bit.

An update. Partly relieved, mainly confused!

The cambelt looks OK (passes the 'leaves slight mark if you press it with a screwdriver' test), the tension is OK, there is no leak around the water pump and there is no apparent damage to it or the alternator. No bearing play on either so far as you can tell.

But. The alternator belt is slightly damaged along the outer edge (yellow circle in photo) and there are some fibres trapped on the pulley (red circle). No apparent damage to the pulley.

Any opinions would be most welcome.

Also is there any harm in starting the engine with the upper cam cover removed - something might become more obvious?

Don't feck about, any doubt, hurl the old belt out!

Hi . I would want to remove that belt and have a more detailed look around . These belts are cheap enough and as yours is showing signs of distress I would be fitting one anyway . When I first bought my TF , the belt was cracked but had not started to look as bad as yours . I would be looking at the crank pulley and also be looking at the alternator mountings / bolts to check that all was well . The belt may just have reached the end of its life and from my personal experience they generally tend to crack across the driven multi 'vee' side rather than start to loose part of its width . Also check that the crank pulley is running true and not trying to derail the belt .

John

Cobber wrote: wrote:

Don't feck about, any doubt, hurl the old belt out!

Wot he said!

Fibres degrading from the Alternator belt can get into the cambelt casing and cause major engine damage.
One of the most common causes of catastrophic engine failure!

Defo David , and nobody would want that to happen all for the cost of an alternator belt !

Thanks to everyone for their input.
Everything checks out, no unusual noises, pullies running true etc - just the damaged alternator belt.
This time it stopped in a more revealing place - it looks like something has stripped one edge off the belt and there is some damage to one of the internal ribs, the pullies look fine.
I'm working on the 'foreign object' theory, although what and how it could have flicked up is a mystery.
About to order new cambelt kit (due anyway) and alternator belt, should solve the problem.