1.4hdi aircon pump bypass?

Hi everyone. My sons mk1, 1.4hdi makes a right noise on the alternator/aircon pump belt. now i fitted a new belt not long ago and it was quiet for about a week. The aircon doesnt work so im looking at fitting a smaller belt and bypassing the aircon pump. Does the non aircon belt fit directly by bypassing the pump?? has anyone done this?. Or my other thought was fitting a smaller belt around the aircon pump as this will allow the belt Tensioner to give me more tension.. I think my belt is 800mm long.. Gates do a belt at 780mm long.. any thoughts?..

What sort of a noise?
"Squeak" could be belt slip. Does it come and go? Appear when there is a large electrical load, like lights on or turning the steering wheel at low speed?
"Squeal" or grinding, could be bearing. The alternator, aircon compressor and idler (tensioner) are all possible sources of bearing failure.
Jack up the drivers side, remover the wheel and arch liner (like you did to replace the belt) and start the engine. See if you can isolate what is making the noise.
If you are sure it's the aircon compressor, wrap a piece of string around the pulleys (from pulley to pulley) to find the length you need. I think you can go from the tensioner to the harmonic balancer and not hit the compressor pulley.

Funny, my mk1 HDI does the same thing. Only my A/C is working fine.

Its a weird faint scraping/sqeaking noise wich I cant really describe. Me, my garage and even a Citroen dealer cant find what is causing the issue. We think its either the Compressor for the airco or the alternator. Sinds everything is working as should I gave up the search.

But am I right for assuming your having a bit more trouble then a faint noise?

If the noise disappears when the aircon compressor kicks in then it's the clutch bearing in the compressor.
If it doesn't then look at the tensioner bearing or alternator bearings. You can try squirting some moisture displacement spray into the tensioner bearing but it's sealed and that might not work.

Ozvtr wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2019 10:09 pm If the noise disappears when the aircon compressor kicks in then it's the clutch bearing in the compressor.
If it doesn't then look at the tensioner bearing or alternator bearings. You can try squirting some moisture displacement spray into the tensioner bearing but it's sealed and that might not work.

The noise is present at all times sadly. I think your right it might be the alternator bearings.

I wonder what noise keith8000_0 has, maybe we are having the same issue?