Just posting to confirm the accessory belt, water pump and tensioner can all be done without removing the fan and cowl.

The only realy pig being getting the tiny 8mm bolt back into the coolant pipe bracket.

The water pump was a little reluctant to come out but a few blows with some wood and a mallet made it move enough so the seal was cracked.

Car ran squeek free and more importantly coolant leak free afterwards.

(coolant leak symptom, as I couldn't find anything similar on here, was the car would be fine until it cooled down after a trip then it would leak a bit, this was the waterpump seal being OK on a warm engine but no good when it had cooled) 2011 TDV8 Vogue
2007 TDV8 Vogue

I’ve just done the tensioner on the 405…..

Was fiddlier that I remembered doing it on the 322. It’s still pretty straight forwards. It’s doable but frustrating and tighter than it looked.

I just took off the large turbo hose to the throttle body and you can get to all the bolts.  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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I noticed on line a couple of people saying they have alternator failure soon after doing the pulley / belt tensioner etc. but reading through all these, this does not get referenced. I am guessing it is not a definite that you need a new alternator when doing the tensioner job. Just some do if there has been a pull on the alternator due to failing tensioner? Has anyone who has changed the tensioner and left the alternator had plenty of happy motoring after without need to change alternator soon after? Cheers, Ben. 2011 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 TDV8
2003 VW Golf V6 4motion
2001 Range Rover Vogue 4.6
1982 Range Rover in VOGUE
1990 Range Rover Vogue SE
2007 Audi A6 Avant Le Mans Quattro S-Line 3.0 TDI
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Are you guys changing the belt at the same time, or is that a more instruive job? Not sure if possible to get that in with the tight clearance

I unfortunately have to replace my aux belt as it shat itself very soon after I changed the aircon compressor. Belt looked fine when I put the new compressor on so not sure what I did wrong.

I maybe missing something really obvious but can the fan just be unbolted with a fan removal tool and the belt fed behind it?

unplug the fan connector, unclip it from the housing, and feed it out of its location into the fan blades, gently pulling it through them a bit.
- You can then pass the old belt over the fan between the blade and the housing, which will also be in front of the cable too now. Getting the new belt in the same way.
- It is necessary to remove one bolt on the aluminium coolant tube located behind the fan, bolted to the front of the engine. This is necessary regardless of how you do it. Its an 8mm bolt, and a nightmare to get to with the fan in place, but doable Where is the fan connector? I don't know what it looks like. Also any more guidance as to where this 8mm bolt is?

Thanks!

Hi Mark,
Yes you can just unscrew the fan and feed the belt through.
From memory you need to remove both the 8mm bolts on the metal coolant pipe to get enough movement to feed the belt through easily.
It does look like it won’t come out but it does.
Not the easiest fan belt to do! 2012 TDV8 4.4 Westminster Santorini black
2016 Discovery 4 Landmark
2002 Defender TD5