Fan belt tensioners

ASLOYAN69

MEMBER
2013 PEUGEOT
1.6L
FWD
AUTOMATIC
50,000 MILES

Stopped driving the car today as all faults alerts and noises started to flash in the dashboard. Brakes, ABS, Battery, etc. Eventually lost power and electrics stopped like air conditioner, wipers and handbrake.
When taken to the Peugeot dealer and the tow truck guy said the fan-belt tension-er's were loose. This resulted in the fan belt coming off and the electrics failing.
I was then informed that this would need to be replaced (tension-er's or whatever). When I asked if it was something that could be just refitted and tension er's tightened I was told no and it costs me 360€ to replace and fit.
My question is, would this need replacing? Have I just been charged for replacing something that did not need replacing or has not even been replaced?

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

Belts don't jump off for no reason. One of the pulleys is tipped or turned, or the belt is loose. You'll know if the diagnosis and repair were correct if the belt no longer pops off. It is usually pretty easy to check the pulleys for worn bearings when the belt is off. If none are found to be defective, the weak tensioner is the logical suspect. Most conscientious mechanics will head straight to that tensioner rather than waste your money searching for some less-common cause. It is only after the most likely repair, that tensioner, doesn't solve the problem that they have to look further. That will end up costing you more in parts and labor, but the point is they tried the least costly solution first.