Citroen XM Forum

Hi guys....

How much work is involved in changing a ribbed belt tensioner on a 2.1 td without air con? Time wise and difficulty wise?

Not terribly difficult, you can get to it through the wheel arch. Its more of an idler pulley as the belt is tensioned by the alternator.

Whats wrong with yours?

Its just noisy Robert...is it worth stressing about? All im worried about is it throwing the belt off....

Is it a bearing whine? Its also worth checking out the alternator.

Definitely worth sorting out.

robert_e_smart wrote:Not terribly difficult, you can get to it through the wheel arch. Its more of an idler pulley as the belt is tensioned by the alternator.

Whats wrong with yours?

Definitely acts as a tensioner on my non aircon 2.1TD XUD11BTE engine, the alternator position is fixed - were earlier 2.1TD engines different??. Two Allen bolts fix the tensioner bracket to the engine and a third one down below adjusts the belt tension.
I have replaced a few of these, the first sign of a worn tensioner bearing is a rumble rather than a whine coming from below/behind the alternator. Unfortunately the bearing is integral with the flat pulley and cannot be repaced separately as I found when I took one to bits.
Another tip - getting the tensioner back in position after fitting a new belt can be difficult and I have resorted in the past to lengthening the adjustment slots in the tensioner mounting plate to give a bit more wiggle room. The true length of nominal 6PK1100 belts seems to vary between manufacturers making some almost impossible to fit.
New tensioners available here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260990560958? ... 1423.l2649 but price has shot up lately due to weakening £pound against the Euro.

Ken

Yes,

On the XUD11ATE, its an idler for the alternator, and it is tensioned at the alternator. There is a separate V belt for the HP Pump, it is again tensioned at the pump.

The later cars with one belt have the tensioner come idler like you describe Ken.

So is it the one that looks like the ebay link? What is commonly known at GSF as the lollypop tensioner

Citroen Service appears to indicate the change to the later (ebay link / lollypop style) tensioner occurred at RP no 6779 onwards.
Citroen part no is 575138 and costs all of £109.18 from them or
RIBBED AUXILLARY DRIVE BELT TENSIONER Part No : 135PC0140 £38.40 post free from GSF

Ken