Rubbing noise going uphill.

[Oldiebut goodie]

If the belt breaks,
it should also cause the alternator to stop, so your charge light should come on as soon as the belt fails.

Cheers for that.

Mine used to do that water/party trick. Perished rubber for tailgate I think mine was.
Since I had all the body work done, and new rubbers, it hasn't spilled a drop on me since - so at a guess it was that

Ya this one appeared about a year ago randomly one wet evening. Only happens if the van is facing a certain way into the wind and rain , there is a few cracks along the fibreglass roof so I'm guessing some capillary action going on somewhere, it's a real slow leak, as in a drop every 2 mins maybe. So annoying though

Depending on the size of the crack, try some Captain Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure.
David.

Cracks are rarely more than the gelcoat - water will not go through unless the crack is all the way through the layers.

[pleasestartnow]

This happened to me 11 years ago while ragging the SA round Hockenheim on my 40th birthday, it went on lap 5 of 5 iirc.
Backed off, got to the paddock, swapped the belt when it had all cooled down.

Always carry a set of (checked) spare belts!

Hockenheim looks class, if I can just make it back to the ferry in a few weeks I will be delighted i have 2 spare belts, 1 new and 1 that I changed out a few years ago when I did the timing belt as well.

Cracks are rarely more than the gelcoat - water will not go through unless the crack is all the way through the layers.

I have 1 big spiderweb of a crack from when I ran into a height barrier a good while back in a hurry to get a parking spot and forgot about the height of the van. Ah no though you are right, I’m being disingenuous when I just say cracks in the fibreglass, there is parts now where it connects to the van that look worse for wear to. Anyway, leaks are the least of my concerns at the moment when I am trying to listen for any unusual creaks or groans which is making every drive a white knuckle affair

[R0B]

Water ingress is not to be taken lightly. Look at this horror.

[pleasestartnow]

Oh I don't take it lightly at all, but I have kept the van in dry storage the last number of years and rarely have it out in the rain if it can be helped ( i do live in Ireland after all haha). It's just at this very moment on this trip water ingress isn't my priority its random noises. I'm debating with myself removing the top as a winter job in the hope of getting it back on again before next summer but I will have to build up the courage for that and do some sort of welding course.

[RogerT]

Water ingress is not to be taken lightly. Look at this horror.

You beat me to it.

But mine is worse!

[pleasestartnow]

Weather is better today so I am getting a chance to root around to see if I can see source of noise before we head to next destination tomorrow.

Excuse the number of posts as I come up with different question.

I am going to rule out cv joint issues for right now as the noise really sounded like something rubber rubbing off something when I pressed the accelerator but as I said earlier it only occurred twice in the entire journey and only for a few seconds going up a hill.

So I'm thinking, I push the accelerator, that pulls on the mechanism in the engine bay (no rubber parts), engine gets more fuel and goes faster and this spins the alternator faster and the only bit of rubber I can see in that process is the belt.

First question.


Should this bolt, holding the pulley attached to the alternator be very tight? I put the spanner on it there and I was able to tighten it fairly easily, I didn't just in case I shouldn't thought.

[pleasestartnow]

This is the inner Cv joint, I pulled up the narrower side of the boot and it doesnt look like there is any grease
there really. Should i see some evidence of grease there or would i need to take the whole joint off to see? I am loath to do that as there is to much that can go wrong and leave me stranded .

[pleasestartnow]

To complicate or maybe simplify matters my girlfriend just said off hand that she thought the noise came from the front do I checked as I had recently replaced bearings, discs and pads. I found this, a string of metal where something I'd obviously wearing away at something.
I'm about to take off the wheel to check the discs but they feel fine.

[Oldiebut goodie]

That looks like a speedometer cable.

[pleasestartnow]

It's the driver side wheel, sorry I should have said that.

Van has only done 300km or less since bearings, discs and pads where changed as well. It does give the odd squeeze now and again when turning right hand corners but not a persistent squeek and no squeek any other time. So maybe the rubbing I heard was something going on in this area. Maybe the brake pads caught that piece of metal or something

[icosahedron]

That's the spring that should be inside the hub seal.

[pleasestartnow]

That's the spring that should be inside the hub seal.

Ahh that makes sense. 3 of my wheel nuts are not shifting so I'm just waiting on the plus gas to kick in now to try and get it off to have a better look.

I don't have a spare hub seal with me, or ball joints if I damage one taking them off to get to the back of the disc. So maybe that rubber sound was the hub seal moving about? Do ye think it is safe to drive on or what should I do? Have images in my head now of my wheel flying off down the road or wobbling like jelly as I cruise along

[pleasestartnow]

So it's definitely the spring from inside the hub seal. Couldn't get off the wheel yesterday as I didn't get a chance to get back to it after plusgassing 3 of the nuts but I ordered a new hub seal from serial-kombi and hopefully that should get to the next campsite before we leave. Still means though I have about an 80km drive today with the current hub seal.

Checked that there is no sign of any grease around disc so I don't think any/or only a little has been flung out as i drive along. So today I think I will just drive nice and slow and hopefully all will be well. Any advice is welcome

[pleasestartnow]

Made it anyway without any unusual noise. Checked around the wheel when we got to the campsite and there was only a very very small amount of grease evident and that was only where the spring is coming out. Rest of the area was bone dry