Update:
The sound CAN be replicated by "power-braking". Because it's at very low RPMs any way, it's not a difficult thing to do (and very little chance of oopsie driving if the brakes are overpowered by the engine...in a 148hp Mazda 3
).
I do, therefore, need a second person to do further diagnosis since I can't power brake and look in the engine bay at the same time.
So, the sound now is the same, but comes on a little differently; that is, the sound is only heard when the car is cold (goes away entirely when the engine reaches operating temperature). I think that's incredibly positive, and likely indicative of the belt needing a change - as I expected - but means that the tensioner itself is probably fine.
I have a plan to go forward and deal with this over the weekend.
As a side, I got home yesterday at 5:15pm (I love my commute!!) and wanted to get to a 6:30pm spin class. When I walked in the door, wifey was having a little study group with a friend. Wifey asked if I was willing to do a seasonal wheel changeover for the friend, who may or may not have been gorgeous (no, I will not post pictures!! PM for details
- kidding!!). I offered to do it over the weekend since I wanted to get to my spin class, but then the weather forecast called for snow last night (which barely came, though it was a bit snowy this morning) and a 5-10cm dump Saturday. I was guilt-tripped to doing it last night.
The car: a freebie (yes, literally free - from her brother) 2006 Mk4 Golf TDI (1.9D) with 286,000km (Brazilian-built).
It was fairly rusted, especially the lug nuts. I was really impressed that all 4 of the wheels were standing upright, with room to spare, in that trunk. Fantastic cargo capacity - I can't fit 4 standing side by side in the Forester due to the wheel wells. Hatchback 1: CUV 0.
Any way, the lug nuts looked small, so I grabbed the 19mm socket I use for the Forester. TOO BIG
I grabbed the tire iron in the back, knowing that it would fit the nuts. Sure did. Also, it was about 10" long and gave me zero torque for those horrifically rusted bolts. They simply wouldn't budge (they were also hella overtorqued).
Since I already have a 24" breaker bar, I went to CT and picked up this set for $19.49 - figured it's good to have a full set any way:
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/maximum-impact-socket-set-11-pc-0587496p.html#srpFWIW, I paid $9.99 each for the 21mm and 19mm sockets I already had, so I wish I got this set in the first place, but whatever...she was really hot.
Got back home, made sure to chock the wheels with spare bricks I had in the garage (she's a Manual, folks! - left in gear and with the parking brake up, but extra safety is good), and gave 'er. The lugnuts all came off, albeit none of them particularly "easily". The problem was that the socket would stay 'stuck' on the lugnuts, requiring me to lightly tap it with a hammer to free the socket. 20 lugnuts, to be torqued, and then retorqued...to 87lb-ft (120nM) as per the owner's manual. Took about an hour to do the whole job, and so I missed my spin class
Checked the brakes, which all looked good. The rear suspension was 100% not original - pretty blue struts, and the rear-left squeaking a bit when the car was raised. The short wheelbase, by the way, made for a hilarious jacking - even though I used the front corner, the entire side of the car was off the ground at pretty much the same time - I still did each corner individually just to be cautious.
I used that anti-seize lube very sparingly on the hubs nowhere near the lugnuts. None of the wheels were seized when I tried getting them off, but I figured why not.
Any way, sure as sh!t, when she was backing out of the garage, her front passenger's side headlight blew out. I have some spare H11 bulbs, but a quick look-up showed that the Mk4 takes H7s. Oh well.
...but I looked under the hood to see if it'd be an easy change...nope. Unlike the usual "twist, pull out bulb", you have to move a clip over, remove a housing, then remove another retention clip, and then you can disconnect and remove/replace the bulb. I hope newer models are substantially easier than that...
Any way, it's nice being able to help others and have a clue what I'm doing for basic stuff with cars now - thanks to all who have helped me through.
