TD4 Aux Belt Won't Fit

Helping a friend fix his Land Rover Freelander TD4 (54 plate - 2004).

Dodgy electrics, pointed to a bad alternator, but we also noticed the belt was slipping and bouncing around a lot, so before spending a lot of money on a new alternator, replacing the belt seemed the best option.

The job was easy up until re-fitting the belt. Some issues with the compressor belt (which was also very worn) being a tight fit, but we got there in the end.

The new aux belt however will NOT fit. When we loosened the tensioner to remove the belt, it slipped off the crank pulley very easily. Now, it isn't even approaching slack enough to fit half way over any last pulley. We've tried using the crank, the alternator and the one under the tensioner as the last pulley we slip the belt over, still inches more slack needed.

We know that we aren't suffering from the obvious common mistakes -

1. The routing is correct and the belt is seated correctly.

2. The belt is the right size. We even tried the old belt to make sure its wasn't a case of a bad part number, but it was the same story.

I'm guessing we've messed up something somewhere with the tensioner, and/or we're missing a common trick here. We are not morons and have seen plenty of evidence on the internet (on this forum and others) that this is a 10 minute job.

We are thinking perhaps something wrong with the tensioner. Is is adjustable? Perhaps we've adjusted it by mistake? Is there any way to mistakenly move one of the other pulleys? It seems not, but we're literally almost insane now. We've spent 7 hours trying to fit this belt, both of us have badly cut up our hands in the process and the nightmare is set to continue into another day, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Are you 100% sure its routed right? It can go 2 ways which both look right but only one way will fit........I had the same problem with a new belt, could not get it on at all, it just needed a bit more to go but just would not fit, similar to your explanation, eventually got fed up and put the old one back on which was only 12 months old anyway.....Now was it the new belt which measured the same as the old one at fault? or did I route it wrong?.....I'm pretty sure I routed it wrong to be honest, but I had no probs putting the old one back on.......Strange one

Just out of interest what make is the belt your trying to put on.

O and I always use the alternator as the last pully.

Why would the compressor belt be hard to get on? Did you slacken the tensioner? I wonder if there are slight variations in belt lengh between 2001 models and the 2003 face lift jobbies?


Having had a good think! I remember trying the new belt in all combinations and just could not get it on...

100% sure the routing is correct, I made that clear. Sorry to sound obvious but this is really winding us up now.

Both new and old belt will not go back on, as I say.

Possible tensioner fault? Is there a way to adjust the tensioner?

Is this the diagram you're working from?
cuz this one off the net don't seem right....

Try this thread too. http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/replace-ancillary-drive-belt-td4-75402.html

No, I'm going by photos and a diagram I drew before I took the old one off. The document in that thread you posted is exactly what I'm doing.

Sorry to sound short with people but I made quite clear in my original post -

1. The routing is correct.
2. It is the correct belt.

As I know these are common problems through reading every other thread on the internet about this issue.

Is there are way the tensioner can be adjusted? Is it easy to tell if it is broken?

binaryfinary said:

Helping a friend fix his Land Rover Freelander TD4 (54 plate - 2004).

The job was easy up until re-fitting the belt. Some issues with the compressor belt (which was also very worn) being a tight fit, but we got there in the end.

Click to expand...

Still dont understand how you had trouble with the compressor belt, this one is really easy, you should have had no problems with it, It should not have been tight to put on.

Have you put your alternator and ac compressor in the right places?:scratching_chin::rofl:

Post a pic up of your pullys etc

binaryfinary said:

Is there are way the tensioner can be adjusted? Is it easy to tell if it is broken?

Click to expand...

Yes you wont be able to get your belt on :hysterically_laughi

I wasn't being rude or nuffin, but even an experienced mechanic can have a doh I gone the wrong way round those pulleys moment. I can't be much more help as I don't have any specific experience on the td4.

Good luck buddy.

No problem, I know that most of the time it is incorrect routing.

I know for a fact the routing is correct. Having been told the routing might be wrong so many times, we keep checking it and checking it to make sure, it is 100% the correct way on according to the "Replacing Belt" .pdf guideby Michael Van De Ven that is always cited (you cited it too) and that's EXACTLY what we're doing. A helpful guide that we've followed to the letter.

Again, to re-iterate, it can't be an incorrect belt because we've tried the old one too, no luck.

Finally, an idea we've had -

The tensioner pulley is held on by the big (24mm) bolt you use to slacken the belt, but on the other side of it is a nut. After LOADS of trial and error (we're talking about 3 hours) we managed to get a 15mm spanner on it with the intention of tightening it in case it had just come loose.

No real difference, but we didn't want to go mental and only managed a quarter turn tightening it. We don't want wreck the bolt (it's extremely tight) but our theory is that the bolt/nut might be loose, so when we're slackening the tensioner, it's just turning the bolt before we get enough slack.

To back this up, we start with the 24mm spanner up near the shock, turn anti-clockwise until its at the other side of the wheel arch (it slackens but not enough), then when we let it go again, the spanner only returns half distance.

So imagine we start at 8 o'clock, we turn the spanner to 4 o'clock to slacken the tensioner, we release the tensioner and the spanner returns to "neutral" at 6 o'clock.

This suggests the bolt is partly spinning, so while we are releasing some tension, we're losing some of the travel on the tensioner by the bolt turning.

Does that make sense?

In that case unlucky for you, maybe your tensioner is fooked.....Is the 24mm bolt head in good condition, can you get a good purchase on it...

1. You still have not explained why the ac belt was a struggle for you to get on. It should not be you can throw it on with 1 hand...It may have some bearing on your other problems with the aux belt?

2. You said 1st the aux belt was loose n bouncing around and basically fell off...Now its to tight and you need inches more slack to get it on....Does the tensiorer move to the left when you pull on it...can you feel it springing back.

3. At this point it would be helpful if you could post up some pictures.

4. Are you sure the crankshaft pully has not disintegrated and gone egg shaped as this can cause the belt to bounce around.it did on mine. Might be worth spinning the pully around a bit if its faulty to find a low point to slip the belt on...Well not egg shaped but where the belt fits around the pully it becomes off center. My pully was that bad it jerked the ac belt tensioner loose....Food for thought there

5. Good luck

Might help



Mike

Bit of a rude fooker for a newbie.

englishbullterrier said:

Bit of a rude fooker for a newbie.

Click to expand...

I thought so to.

obviously doesn`t know how sensitive we are on here.

the tensioner is not adjustable, you have fooked up with the belt routing, its easily to do so dont take it to heart,
you need to take the tension off the tensioner with a spanner its spring loaded and reroute the belt correctly, it really is not rocket science

My origional 12 month old one was a continental.....the new one I tried to put on came with the crankshaft pully....so i thought it would be rude to not fit the new one..

Could not get it on, got myself all hot and bothered and thought, fook it I,ll put the old one on.......got it on no problem, so thought lets get out of here quick before something else breaks. Job done

What I did notice was that the continental one was more supple and had a bit of elasticity to it... the other one was stiff like card and there was zero give in it...

Both measured up the same......ive still got it in the garage, will post a pic of the sod tomorrow if I remember.....

Firstly, I apologise if I come across as rude, but I'm here for solutions, not to make friends. You seem like a nice bunch of people and, believe it or not, I'm generally a nice person too.

But when your mate is in a really bad position due to this cluster-fu*k, details of which I won't bore you with, I'm not going to mess around.

Also, when I'm being told to do things I've already said I've done, or people are posting excerpts from the Haynes manual (which we have) explaining things I've already said I've done, or people KEEP saying it's the routing when I KEEP saying it isn't, you can forgive me for being a little short.

So gentlemen, back to the business at hand.

After much messing around, pushing the tensioner as far as it would go and holding the spanner in place with a simple but clever wood arrangement, we then managed to just loop the last of the belt over the edge of the crank pulley. Then, with me manually cranking the engine using a wrench, and my mate lipping the belt over with a screw-driver, the belt went on. But, as I say, it was an extremely tight fit.

End result - The belt wasn't the problem. It's likely the alternator, as suspected.

Now, a week later, he has the money to get the alternator looked at. Seemed simple enough to remove, and we know the trick for getting the belt on now, so we set about removing it.

Came to take the tension off the belt, and the tensioner bolt just rotates, it doesn't move the tensioner at all.

In short, I suspect the tensioner is broken, hence the issue in the first place. Is this an easy fix?

Again, my apologies for being blunt, we can all jump in bed together once this is fixed, but until then, it's doing my head in. Christ knows how my mate feels, this is a living nightmare.

Incidentally, this whole experience, and this forum, have led me to decide I'll probably buy a Land Rover at some point, something I didn't previously consider.

Apologies for not being a mind reader and taking the time out to take pictures and post them in the hope it might help.
I will go and thrash myself soundly with a birch branch.
Now go and buy yourself a new tensioner and have fun.
Mike

I always think of that belt fitting like the number 8 but without the middle bit if you know what I mean

This sounds like exactly the same fault I had and seems to be common. Your tensioner bolt will have started to come loose and when you attempt to release thetensioner spring the whole thing is turning. You need to get a spanner on the back of the tensioner pulley to hold it while you turn the tensioner bolt again and it will work properly. I made a post on this after my difficulties, I will try to find and attach it.

teddywood1 said:

I always think of that belt fitting like the number 8 but without the middle bit if you know what I mean

Click to expand...

Yes, its a complete tw*t. Done mine twice, and I've got aircon! Such fun.
Patience is a virtue.
Mike