Thom

night, and the battery and brake lights came on and the car stopped. I popped the hood and found the ac belt lying on top of the engine cover, but the v-belt was no where in sight. Pushed the car to my apartment(close by) and looked at this after noon. the belt is all torn up and wrapped around the vibration damper. What could have caused this. I was thinking that it was just a defective belt. or maybe the tensioner is bad. I saw that there is a little bit of pplay in the tensioner when the car is on, but isnt there supposed to be?
any body have any ideas.

Sejo5

if u have they might be all sorts of reasons... 1. can be that when u installed it it wasnt tight enough and it might have slipped off <~~ happened to me.......2.DId the car sound more squalish then before u might have got the Timing off by a few notches on the cam shaft.. well this can be some problems i dunno any other cause probably other fellow audi worlders will help u alittle more then me. well i tried...

Edit: i just saw u said that the tensioner was loose and it had play in it. the Belt should be firm to the touch it should have no slack at all and be tight as possible if its not this would cause the belt to break.... thats ur prob !!!

Thom

that it was making a high pitch whining sound on the same night that it happened. not the same as power steering whine.
im almost positive that the timing belt isnt the problem.

Sejo5

my belt to break.. well for ur problem the belt should be firm as possible and no play. the tensioner supposed to have the belt tight as possible but sometimes the tensioer doesnt do its job if u havent had it setup right... well dont rule out the timing belt idea it might be a problem for the squeal. well i tried to help... my friend with a 1999 A4 1.8t getting his belts changed and ill be helping him out. so ill try to take some pics and ill post it up.. well srry i couldnt help u out anymore.

Thom

the timing belt.

RKA

Loose cover, something not bolted down properly...something like that.

You may need to remove the front bumper, and get the radiator in the service position to have a clear view. Line up what's left of the belt between each pulley and roller it touches, until you find whatever was rubbing the belt.

Thom

comperssor was unplugged and near by (it was unplugged un purpose). i dont think that the sensor rubbing on the belt would cause it to do that though. Maybe theres something else that im not seeing though. the strange thing is that it ran fine for a few weeks.
what do you think about the defective belt or tensioner theory?

RKA

It can cause the belt to snap...I think you need to investigate both theories.

Bryans12v

Did you replace the tensioner?

Thom

no...why?