top fan belt tensioner bust

coming back to blackpool from conniston shooting ground today doing 70 mph and the red battery light came up on the dashbourd,stering became heavy coming off the motorway i had no brakes,managed to yank the handbrake on and came to a stop,the top belt tensioner had broke and belt partly came off.does any one know how much one of these cost and how easy are they to fix.

thanks

kev james

on 300tdi very simple job to replace,
don't know price but a breakers wouldn't charge you more than £20.00.
How is it/ Where is the damage.

kevin james said:

coming back to blackpool from conniston shooting ground today doing 70 mph and the red battery light came up on the dashbourd,stering became heavy coming off the motorway i had no brakes,managed to yank the handbrake on and came to a stop,the top belt tensioner had broke and belt partly came off.does any one know how much one of these cost and how easy are they to fix.

thanks

kev james

Click to expand...

How come you had no brakes? What engine is it? I don't know about the others, but on the 300TDI it drives, the alternator, water pump, power steering pump and the viscous fan. Did some of the debris cut a brake pipe?

damage is on the top of the engine,no damage realy just looks as though the bearings have shatterd in the belt pulley,just looks like a new one just bolts strait on to the shaft.dont know why i have no brakes the fan belt must drive something.

kevin

well thats it'll be on a left handed thread,
but as Richard said what engine and why no brakes, that is important to remedy too.

gotoneatlast said:

well thats it'll be on a left handed thread,
but as Richard said what engine and why no brakes, that is important to remedy too.

Click to expand...

1999 t reg tdi 2.5

yeh mines a '98, 300tdi,
i am sure brakes aren't governed in any way by the serpentine belt.

Mine sh!t out last week and cost me £77 for a new OEM one.

battery light came on 'cos you were getting no charge from the alternator due to slackened belt,
Did the engine cut out or labour in any manner?

gotoneatlast said:

battery light came on 'cos you were getting no charge from the alternator due to slackened belt,
Did the engine cut out or labour in any manner?

Click to expand...

and if it did then the brake vaccum pump stopped sucking - hence apparent lack of brakes

indeed,
could have cut out, or worked less efficiently due to electronic throttle control?