Well, starting to put the puzzle together.

I loosened up the tensioner bolt that holds it onto the car enough for it to be just a *little* loose, was able to get the belt over it (it was that close), then tightened it back down. Looked straight, put the IC piping back onto the throttle body, started it up, and...

The pulley appears to be angled down and forward at the top once it started running, which I guess means I have a bad tensioner. Again. Which is... Awesome. Don't know where the store I got it from sourced it so although it certainly is under warranty, I would be shocked if I could get it replaced up here without taking it back to Chattanooga (I live in Nashville).

By the way, even after I got it on the tensioner, I didn't have anywhere NEAR 4 inches of slack, not even 2 inches, maybe half an inch of play under the belt... MAYBE. And the tensioner was about half an inch from the crank pulley in the "pinned" position.

Good news is, I ran the car for a bit, ran the A/C, works fine, no noise, drove it around the block, power steering pump works fine, nothing locked up, belt still on, just pulling the tensioner down and forward like it will self destruct any second (which is probably what killed the first one - bad angle locked the roller at some point).

Any pointers on best source of good aftermarket tensioner? I really don't have $300 bucks extra right now. Love these cars - lol

(Looks like my VR4 Spyder has a bad front turbo and bad a/c seals, too - going to be a busy week).

 

I'd probably call the dealer with your VIN and get the correct belt to eliminate that variable. I think mine was around $45 from dealer. Obviously, if you're shredding belts something else may be of issue, but I don't know what would be most likely the cause. In regards to slack, I had maybe a 1/2" worth of slack if I recall correctly. Also, if you buy the belt from the dealer, they'd probably print out a belt diagram if you ask.

 

Well, that did it.

Got the new tensioner (same exact part number and manufacturer as the one removed so they didn't have the wrong one in there), put it on, tightened it up, got the belt routed properly, and had to walk the belt onto the tensioner (it was still very tight, didn't have but maybe half an inch to play with AFTER it was on the pulley, but it fit).

Cranked right up, no issues at all.

Well, the power steering pump was screeching at me - when driving the Audi without the power steering pump engaged, the rack returns all the fluid to the reservoir and, since the pump isn't turning, the fluid overflows and gets spit overboard. So when the pump starts working again, it sucks what little fluid is in the reservoir out and doesn't have enough fluid so it whines.

I thought it was a bad tensioner pulley until I added some power steering fluid (yes, the correct stuff), turned the wheel back and forth to the limit a few times, let it run for a minute, turned it a few more times, and it quieted right down.

All is well now, thanks for all the help everyone (and yes, I highly recommend removing the fan before you try to pull the tensioner, makes it MUCH easier to get a breaker bar on that nut.

 

Its been a while, but I believe when I put the new belt on, I pulled the pin on the tensioner while my son held a breaker bar in place and then further detensioned the tensioner then I did the belt alignment. That must have been what gave me the additional slack. The tensioner is not pinned at the end of its travel. I think we put the breaker bar on it "just in case" when pulling the pin and then found it could move even further into a detnesioned position. Sorry I left that out but it just came to me after reading your last post. I do remember having two people really facilitated replacing the belt. Sorry if I misguided you in any way. Best regards.