My TDI squeals

dnsr40 · Post by **dnsr40** » Wed May 24, 2006 3:51 pm

Can someone help me?? My 96 TDI Passat serpentine belt squeals like crazy for the first 10 to 20 minutes after startup.....then its quiet as it should be.
I've changed the tensioner, the belt, the pulley........the bar looks in great shape......wondering if maybe its the water pump or alternator squealing till it warms up.....It makes no diference whether its zero or 60 degrees outside.
Its driving me crazy.

dnsr40 · Post by **dnsr40** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:10 am

It would be nice if someone had some kind of similar experience and what they did to resolve it. My mechanic has isolated the noise specifially to the "belt tensioner-rod-pulley" assembly.....it only chirps and squeals when cold. his next step is to try another new belt, perhaps a different manufacturer.

My passat has 187k mikes on it.......i wonder if is the rod hole in the aluminum bracket that might be worn and making the noise when the rod moves in it.

boxscar · Post by **boxscar** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 9:42 am

have you found the problem?
mine was squealing on startup and at idle when the AC was on.
i changed the crankshaft pulley which had a rubber vibration dampner in it that was bad.
cured the squeal.
robert

wooddashman.com · Post by **wooddashman.com** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:35 pm

It is likely the belt. Try some silicone on the serpantine belt and see if the squeel disappears. If so, the belt is probaly bad.

starrd · Post by **starrd** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 1:15 am

This is a known problem. Does it get worse when it is cold out? My Passat TDi had the same problem - it was the vibration damper. These have been re-disigned to eliminate the problem. Read about it here:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.ph ... ight=chirp

There are pictures of the differences between the old version and the updated damper

dchardy · Post by **dchardy** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:24 am

my '96 passat does this, too - it's not too bad, only lasts a few minutes - anyone know if there is a problem with just putting up with it, rather than replacing the pulley/damper ?

david

MayorDJQ · Post by **MayorDJQ** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:08 pm

Could be the tensioner is bad. Right after startup there's a heavy load on the alternator, and if the belt is slightly loose, you'll get the squeal/screech. Once the battery's recharged, it goes away.

Check the tensioner, replace if necessary. Replace the serp belt. Check the alternator pulley when the serp belt is off, it should spin freely.

It could also be the P/S pump. Check that too.

floridadiesel · Post by **floridadiesel** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:51 pm

Unfortunately, it is the harmonic balancer. I had the same problem on my B4 and eventually, it separated causing the belt to shred. It is best to purchase a replacement and do away with the noise and the potential failure from the get go. Good luck.