Horrible buzzing noise - identified!

[enormous sage]

Had a nasty buzzing noise coming from the engine of my 2.0TS Spider.
Had the whole darn thing to pieces, thought it might be (and was told it was) the variator, cam belt tensioner or balance belt tensioner...

Checked all of this.

Thought it was the alternator or a heat shield.

None of them

Discovered that it was the auto-tensioner bearings giving up, by running the engine without the fan belt on.

Lots of work!! Only 30 pounds from EB spares to replace it - thanks!

So it will be the 1st thing for you to check if you get the same problem!!