Astra Belt Tensioner Failure

Alright, car gurus, I'm tearing my hair out here! My 2015 Vauxhall Astra with a gasoline engine is giving me grief. It's got 103651 km on the clock, and the belt-handover thingy has totally stopped working. I'm pretty sure it's a bad belt tensioner, specifically the belt bringer/handover itself that's gone kaput. Anyone else had this nightmare?

4 comment(s)

Sounds familiar. I had a similar issue with my Astra. Is it making a weird noise, almost like a whining sound that changes with the engine speed? Check your tensioner pulley, that might be the culprit. Could also be the timing belt if it's old.

Yeah, there's a definite whine that gets louder as I accelerate. So, when yours went, was it just the pulley or the whole tensioner assembly? I'm trying to gauge how deep my wallet's gonna need to be for this one.

For me, it ended up being the whole tensioner assembly. If you're hearing a whine and the belt handover isn't working, it's probably seized. I'd recommend taking it to a workshop to get it properly diagnosed and fixed. You don't want that timing belt snapping!

Cheers for the advice! Took it to the shop, and you were spot on – the whole tensioner was shot. Cost me 455€ to get it sorted, but at least it's running smooth again. Lesson learned!

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