!cool! disco1

was driving down the motorway this morning and battery light comes on,popped the bonnet to find fan belt had pinged off smoking like a bugger,wasnt snapped had just fell off,
was 20 miles from home took the chance and drove it home,to my suprise made it no bother never went above half way on temp gauge,
turns out water pump had collapsed all fixed now new pump and belt,running fine and good heater....
was it just luck that got me home due to cold weather or will my gauge be knackered and not reading properlly,because i think its been like this for a few weeks,it used to heat up to normal temp quickly but heaters wouldnt heat up for at least 10 miles driving....

Mine did the same a few months back, driving up the motorway to get a donor engine doing about 75mph when the battery light came on and the steering went stiff.
Amazingly the tensioner pully had come off and was balanced just about in the front.
The bolt had stripped the thread from the hole, luckily one side of the bolt has more thread than the other so i swapped it round and botched it in, it lasted all the way to peterbourough and back to swansea.
My first hard shoulder moment.

This is wierd.! Same thing just happened to me and the drive belt is only six months old. Its all chewed on one edge but it hasn,t snapped. Do you reckon it will be ok if I just stick a new one on or is it more serious.

sounds like one of the pulleys may be out of line and pushing the belt over to one side.

Just been and had a look under the bonnet brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Looks like the water pump pulley has siezed and is hangin off. Just had a look on Paddocks and they have two water pumps for 300 tdi ,one is £14.95 the other £24.95.Anyone fitted one and is it an easy job ?

i fitted one today on mine pretty easy job to do took me about an hour but it was snowing and i was drinking tea....mind and get a new belt aswell,and it should come with a new gasket smear some instant gasket on both faces prior to fitting...

So you just clean of old gasket ,smear some new on, and fit it and then refit the pulley?

more or less you you,ll need to take off the pulley at the bottom of the p shape (bottom of pump)cause you cant get the bolt out otherwise,only three 10mm bolts same as top pulley,loosen these off first before you take off belt if possable,then take off bolts for pump remove old gasket give face a rub with some rough sandpaper,smear on instant gasket,fit new paper gasket,smear on some more instant gasket,then refit new parts,i am not a trained mechanic have a little knowledge but i found it pretty easy,

Thanks Gizgrey. Ive found it in my Haynes manual now.I was looking in the index for "water pump" and it was under "coolant pump"

hope it all goes well for you:bounce:

Gizgrey, I was thinking about your question about the temperature gauge.If you lost a lot of coolant when the pump went ,it is possible the temp sender unit was high and dry, so you could have a normal reading even when overheating ! Lucky for you the outside temperatures have stopped this happening. If it had been summer it might have been a different story.10 miles is about normal time for a 300tdi to warm up in these temps with the viscous fan spinning.!

ye abit of good luck..for a change!!