Balance belt whine?

[jezza944]

Hi all, just tensioned the belts with the help of my mechanic. Replaced them about 6 months ago. I can recall always hearing a slight whining sound from what I think is the balance belt, but since tensioning the whine is much louder. Has anyone else experience this, and is it normal? I used Dayco belts and there is a pattern on the balance belt lugs which could be the cause of the noise. Its not an "unpleasant" sound, but my mechanic asked to check it out with you guys as he is not a regular "Porschie"!

[SoCal Driver]

Balance belts do have a tendency to whine a bit. Don't need to be as tight as you think.

[jezza944]

It does't seem too tight, it can still be twisted over 90 deg. Is it worth loosenning a bit (I'd have to pull it down again) or in your opinion will it be OK and not cause any grief? Thanks for the quick reply :-)

[Techno Duck]

Check the position of the balance belt idler pulley. It should be about 1mm away from the belt..very close but not exactly touching. Mine is set so its just barely touching and it sounds like i have a supercharger right now.

Stick a feeler gauge inbetween and see if it makes contact.

[Eldorado]

it's normal for a belt to whine somewhat after a retension I believe... it'll go away after some driving...

[jezza944]

Thanks for your input guys, I'll rest easy and listen to the nice "wannabe" turbo whine. LOL

[Eldorado]

just make sure it's not the timing belt..
could be a sign it's too tight.

[Dougster]

My belts were just changed last week and they whine...Yep somewhat "Supercharger" sounding...

I haven't driven it much with all this rain around here...
How long does it usually take to go away?

[mscromer]

I changed my belts about a month ago and have the same whine. The next weekend I rechecked the tension and it was fine. I now have just about 1000 miles on the new belts and still have the whine, Ive been waiting for it to go away but its not. Im about to check the belts again.

[Lawrence Coppari]

Like SoCal said, the balance shaft belt does not have to be tight. I run mine a little loose to reduce whine and decrease load on balance shaft bearings. There is a lot of wrap of the belt about the pulleys so chances of slip are slim. Even if it does slip, you would only get a little vibration. There is not potential for big damage like you'd have with the timing belt. So unless it comes off and gets tangled up in the timing belt, no harm, no foul, less noise in my opinion.

[Eldorado]

if you've driven the car 1000 miles and you still get the whine, my uneducated opinion would be to start looking elsewhere for the source of the whine.... roller/pulley.. waterpump even....

but that's just me..

[Dougster]

I have less then a 100 miles on mine. Its not very noticeable, but I do hear a differnce from the old belt.

I agree Eldo, if it still does after 1000 miles, it should be looked at (The source of the noise)