so i just got my car back from the shop that installed my m7 pulley (autotechnic in new milford for anyone in the western CT area) and it feels great... i drove around for a while and got home and shut the car off. i came out to the car an hour or so later and turned it on to a terrible clacking noise that quickened with rpms. under the hood it appears that the tensioner is slapping against something, or it is at the very least moving up and down, which isnt good. the clacking also seemed to go away a bit, but its still present. what can i do, what did they do wrong, any help as soon as possible would be appreciated. thank you

 

Is the belt still there? Not broken?

 

belt is still there, not broken, nothing seems to be damaged, the tensioner just keeps slapping up and down pretty quickly. the noise has now changed from a metallic slapping sound to a weird belt squeal sound

 

Sounds like the dampner "little shock" on the tensioner is broken and just the spring and belt are holding it together. I wouldnt drive it as it could throw the belt and then damage the pulley, crank pulley etc etc.


Get the installer to come and have a look.

John.

 

Phat chance your getting a mechanic from a speed shop to come to your house , even if it was his mistake on the install. I concur with Xtreem about the dampner being broken which i cant see how you can break that being it shouldnt be taken apart for the pulley install. Those tensioners go for a hundo if you need it.

 

They may have just not replaced the tensioner assembly correctly. Sounds like maybe a bolt fell out. This might be why the sound changed.

If it were my shop, I'd be out there today checking it out. Anything less is not acceptable, but in this day and age we seem to accept it.

 

now i kept the stock belt, is that the issue that the belt is now too long and is slacking up at the tensioner?

 

no

 

ok good, the shop is looking at it tomorrow, so we shall see what the result is

 

g;luck & keep us posted!

 

Is it possible the SC has seized due to improper removal of the original pulley?

If the tensioner was damaged I think it would have been evident during the test drive, but if the wrong type of puller was used, or if heat was used, it could have taken awhile for the SC to seize.

 

From my understanding...the SC shaft is harden steel and shouldnt be affected by heat....on the other hand, the front bearing would be in this case......i also saw somewhere that the Helix or hub type pulley can be heated to slide it on easer than trying to press it back on.