I have two 1g cars. The belt should move up and down about 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch between the two cam shaft gears. You should just bearly see one of the cam gears move when you move the belt up and down. Fairly tight, but not a banjo string.

On my 93NT, I had a new head installed by a "Joe Blow" shop and got loud whining about 5K miles afterwards. Mitsu told me that the T-Belt tensioner was not installed correctly and the idler bearing was shot. Another $900 to do it all over again, this time with all new factory bearings, tensioner, balancer and the works done by Mitsu. Now 35K after that, no problems. I'll never go to another Joe Blow mechanic again. There is a cotter pin in the tensioner that must be removed to apply the correct tension on the T-Belt. Joe Blow didn't remove the pin and instead hammered the tensioner into submission to tighten the belt. It doesn't make sense to me how, but that's what Mitsu told me and even showed me my old parts. I still have them.

 

I just had a new one installed by the dealer and it's fairly loose. The old one was fairly loose too.

 

i have a weird problem with that too, sometimes its tight, and others its gets loose, does anybody know what this could be?

 

its kinda normal for it to sometimes be loose inbetween the cams, its just dew to were the engine stopped and the camps want to turn together. mine does it sometimes and i get kinda scared but it ok

 

i would say it is like impossible to get it to tight. i got mine as tight as could be. but really its the automatic tensioner that keeps it tight so its up to that thing, not how much the person tightens it.

 

i have a weird problem with that too, sometimes its tight, and others its gets loose, does anybody know what this could be?

As long a it's tight right after you shut the engine off it should be ok. There is some range of adjustment in the automatic tensioner and it seem like it's common for the tension to relax overnight so that the belt is slightly loose after it's been sitting awhile.

As far as the whining goes, were all the idlers and pulleys replaced when the belt was changed? It's not usual for the belt to whine but there are lots of other parts that could including a bad crank pulley. If you just had it done take it back to the place that did it and complain.

Steve

 

Yes, take it back and complain.

The reason the belt gets loose and tight has to do with thermal characteristics on various metals and rubbers. Expand, contract, expand, contract.

Take it back and complain. It's not right. If anybody knows anything about DSMs, don't ignore weird noises and the car will last forever providing you change the oil.

 

I read somewhere, that after over night there will be 1/2 in. play in it. I think mine gets like that too.

 

The reason the belt gets loose and tight has to do with thermal characteristics on various metals and rubbers. Expand, contract, expand, contract.

I don't think so, considering it tightens right up immediately if you rotate the crank by hand a few turns. I'm pretty sure it's the tensioner relaxing.

Steve

 

I believe that btrux06 is right. It all depends on where the engine stops. If you have ever done the timing yourself you know that the cams want to spring back or forth. When you stop your engine the cam lobes may be in a spot that creates belt tension in between the gears, or it may be in a spot that creates slack. There areof course other reasons, bad reasons for variation in tention. However even if all is fine there will still be tension and slack relative to the index of the engine.

 

When you stop your engine the cam lobes may be in a spot that creates belt tension in between the gears, or it may be in a spot that creates slack.

This is correct... it's just valve spring pressure. Turn the crank by hand and you'll see that the belt tightens up. It's just a matter of where the engine stopped when you turned it off.

Btrux... Yes the automatic tensioner is what keeps the belt tight once you pull the grenade pin... but you still have to set the manual tension correctly. If the manual tension is set too loosely, the automatic tensioner has less room to compensate for the belt stretching over its lifespan. Setting the manual tension too tight will result in the belt stretching prematurely and possibly snapping.

Wobble... it shouldn't be so tight that it makes noise.

I set the manual tension so that the grenade pin on the auto tensioner can slide in and out of its hole with a little friction (the hole in the rod is set slightly lower than the hole in the casing).

 

i broke the arm that the piston part of the auto tensioner pushes on.. the one the idler pully is attached to.. now I have got get another arm

 

Yeah, that is probably a little too tight.

 

lol, i broke it with the tension release pin.. im a retard..

 

lol, i broke it with the tension release pin.. im a retard..

How did you do that??? Just let it jump back up and hit it?

 

Does anyone know the torque on the tensioner arm bolt? You know, the bracket that holds the tensioners on? I couldnt find it anywhere so I just tighten to ummmm well I dont know, just pretty tight.

 

If you looking for the torque spec for the bolt on the tensioner arm pivot, your right it's hard to find in the manual. From the Overhaul manual it's spec'ed at 16 ft lbs. and it's also listed in step 22 of the 1G TB VFAQ.

Steve

 

1 Tensioner retracted. Many people use a drill bit in the hole because cotter pins flex too much. When you set the initial tension via the pulley the plunger gets pushed on but only about 2 ft lbs. The bit won't flex and gives a solid base for the arm to push off of when you set the pulley tension.

2. Adjustment pulley should be set to 1.88 to 2.03 ft lbs of force against the belt MD998752 is the tool used to set the pulley tension. I use it on an inch pound wrench that maxes at ft lbs. THEN I tighten the centerbolt to 16 ft lbs.

3. Use the tool thru the mount (long bolt) to push the arm down on the tension plunger. This works depending on if you have a 6 bolt swap or not and how you did it. If not just push down on the arm untill you can pull the bit out.

4. turn the motor over completely atleast twice and let it sit 15 min.

5. The gap btw the arm and top of the tensioner spec is .15-.18 or 3.8 to 4.5mm. You can use a drill bit set to determine the gap. Find a bit that just fits in with very sight drag on it and that is the gap. If it is wrong compress the tensioner and put the pin abck in and reset the pulley. (IE go back to #2 again) If the gap was to narrow the pulley preloaded the belt too much so try 1.9 ft lbs. If it was too wide try 2.0 ft lbs.

I prefer to set my gap on the tight side of spec a .15 bit slides in the gap with just a teeny bit of drag.

 

I use it on an inch pound wrench that maxes at ft lbs.

oops

0-150 inch pound Dial type snap on tq wrench.

1.88 ft lbs = 22.56 In lbs

2.03 ft lbs = 24.36 In lbs

One needle width from 25 inch pound on the dial seems to work dead on every time.

To hold the cams in alignment before the belt is set up I borrow an adjustable tool that slips betweeen them locking them where you set them. It is extremely easy when you have acess to all the little gizmos the the stealership techs have.

 

1 Tensioner retracted. Many people use a drill bit in the hole because cotter pins flex too much. When you set the initial tension via the pulley the plunger gets pushed on but only about 2 ft lbs. The bit won't flex and gives a solid base for the arm to push off of when you set the pulley tension.

2. Adjustment pulley should be set to 1.88 to 2.03 ft lbs of force against the belt MD998752 is the tool used to set the pulley tension. I use it on an inch pound wrench that maxes at ft lbs. THEN I tighten the centerbolt to 16 ft lbs.

3. Use the tool thru the mount (long bolt) to push the arm down on the tension plunger. This works depending on if you have a 6 bolt swap or not and how you did it. If not just push down on the arm untill you can pull the bit out.

4. turn the motor over completely atleast twice and let it sit 15 min.

5. The gap btw the arm and top of the tensioner spec is .15-.18 or 3.8 to 4.5mm. You can use a drill bit set to determine the gap. Find a bit that just fits in with very sight drag on it and that is the gap. If it is wrong compress the tensioner and put the pin abck in and reset the pulley. (IE go back to #2 again) If the gap was to narrow the pulley preloaded the belt too much so try 1.9 ft lbs. If it was too wide try 2.0 ft lbs.

I prefer to set my gap on the tight side of spec a .15 bit slides in the gap with just a teeny bit of drag.

Well said! I finally did my first TB myself, and setting the tensioner gap was so tough, I doubt any shop would ever try to get it right. It just took so much time without the tool, but it can be done. I ended up with 4mm when I was finally done. I didn't have the tensioner tool, so I would take out the arm and pulley, mount the arm in a jig I made out of wood and some clamps. I marked the pulley with a wax pencil at first for reference. I started loose and kept tighenting the pulley bolt, which would turn the pulley in the tensioning direction. Remount everything and try the tension again. Took me like 6 or 7 tires. It was brutal, but I knew that was a very important part of the job. All told, I think I spent 3 or 4 hours on that alone. It just so happened I ended up with just a tad more torque on the pulley bolt than speced. So without the tool, I can't see a shop doing that.

I remember my first shot at it, the tensioner pulley was way too tight. WHen I pulled the pin, the tensioner didn't even extend at all. I could put the pin back in without compressing it. SO I think a belt can be put on too tight.

With all my t-belts, from factory new to this 3rd one I have now, I've alway gotten some play between the cam gears, depending on how it shut off. Some times it's tight, sometimes it has play.

 

Metric allen wrenches work even better than bits for the checking the gap.

I think I'll make a VFAQ on how to make an equivelent of the pulley tool.

http://www.vfaq.com/proj-pics/Tbelt/fig19.gif

1g and 2g both use it. It would be simple to build one.

Using it, a solid pin (bit) in the tensioner and accurate wrench reduces the tension set up time to
:dunno:

2 min max.


This tool is easy to make but probably the least important.

http://www.vfaq.com/proj-pics/Tbelt/fig05.gif

A new tensioner is used by smart ppl. So pad a vise with plastic or wood and use it to get the bit in. Use a small pry bar or a big fat flat blade screwdriver to pry on the back of the arm tip. Just hard enough to sneek the pin out. "unpry" slowly so the plunger does'nt fly out and "jack hammer" on the arm when it comes out. If you did it right it will be a quiet operation.

Give me the first tool, a .15in drill bit, 1.5mm bit (tensioner) and let me use my in lb tq wrench and I can have it done dead on in less time than it takes to screw the second tool in far enough.

 

anything bad going to happen if I torqued the tensioner arm pivot bolt to about tice what it should be (16 ft lb)? COuldnt find the spec on it so I tightened it down pretty tight (Im assuming 25-30 ft lbs), reassembled the whole damn font of the engine, then found this thread with the correct spec.........

 

wow 16 isnt much, ive always tightened the hell out of it, figure that one bolt holds your hole motor together, then i actually broke it once from torqing it and got to stretched,

 

Damn, back from the dead fo sure. Anyways 16 isn't very tight but that is what the manufactures call for so that is what I would use. If you put more on it you will be fine as long as you didn't stretch the bolt. They also don't want you to bind the bearings but at 30 pounds they should be fine. When I torqued mine, I used red or blue threadlock on it. Can't remember which but if I did it again I would use red. Red is more permanate and a lot harder to remove. Since its only removed every 60k, red should be fine.

 

Bearing bind is not an issue. The center of the pulley is a solid metal plug with a hole for the bolt, and the bearing is around it. You are not actually clamping on the bearing race when you tighten the bolt.

Thats one of those bolts that you just get nice and tight, but don't break it.

I also use loctite on that bolt. it's the most expensive loose bolt on your car.