The owner of this 2006 Citroen Relay 2.0 HDi knew his way around the workings under the bonnet. When the ignition warning light suddenly flickered on, he opened the bonnet to discover that the auxiliary drive belt had jumped off. He was quite capable of putting it back in place, so he refitted it and went happily on his way.

When the belt came off again a few days later, he popped into his local factors and picked up a new belt and fitted it in place. With the new belt fitted he was sure that his troubles were behind him. No less than a week went past before the new belt had also jumped off.

This was the point where he asked me if I could work out what was going on. Looking at the belt in position, I could see that the tensioner had worn and was kicking off to one side, preventing the belt from running true on the pulleys, and hence the reason why it had decided to jump off a couple of times.

The newly fitted belt was still in good condition, so a new tensioner was needed. Once fitted, the belt was replaced and when the engine was running, I could see it was now operating smoothly and should stay in place.

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