Auxilairy Drive Belt in S3 with Sigma Ti VCT Engine

[Jim 123]

The following may be worth keeping an eye on..........

In the 270S S3 chassis, the gap clearance between the Auxiliary Drive Belt Tensioner and the Steering Column can be very tight.  The other day I thought I heard the very faintest of squeaks at idle coming from the engine.

Visual inspection showed the gap between the Drive Belt Tensioner Body and the Steering Col looked OK as always, with a god few m.m. clear space along the body of the Tensioner and the Steering Col.  Closer examination further forward showed that the Aux Belt was rubbing (and wearing) on the Steering Col.  With my lousy eyesight it did not look like this was the case, and the tell tale was a light ring that had started to polish on the Steering Col surface.

It looks to me that the Auxilary Drive Belt has stretched a little, and the tensioner, in doing it's job, has brought the belt into contact with the Column.  The factory torque spec for the Steering Rack Clamp Bolts at 11Nm may also have allowed a bit of movement in the position of the Column.

All now fixed and squeak free, but I thought it may be worth mentioning to avert unanticipated blat curtailment for others.

[ChrisC]

Could also be the angle of your steering rack / column.  Rotating the rack in the clamps just a little bit alters the column location, this could be all that’s needed to clear the belt.

[Jim 123]

Good point Chris.  I'm playing around with adjustments. 

The idea behind my post was primarily to give people a heads up that they may have the belt rubbing and wearing although all seems good when you look at the clearance and see a gap between the Tensioner and Column.