SkylineKin

hey guys,

so i just got done doing the timing belt/balance shaft belt, all the seals and the water pump on my 94 Si 4WS with the stock H23. Car started and runs fine, but im getting a whirring/howling sound that goes along with the RPM's, im almost positive it is the balance shaft belt being to tight. I followed the tension adjustment for the timing belt but just pushed down on the tensioner to tighten the balance shaft belt (stupid me, should have followed the procedure). So my question is, can I somehow loosen and retension the balance shaft belt without taking everything back apart?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I know you tension the balance shaft belt by loosening the tension bolt and turning one revolution, but without locking the timing belt tension arm, how can I do this w/o messing up the tension on my timing belt?

street_ride14

The timing belt and balance shaft belt run on different gears, you can not loosen both unless you a purposefuly trying to.

Remove crank pulley, remove lower timing cover, loosen the Adjusting Nut to remove tension, then use hand to apply tension to tensioner pulley while other hand tightens Adjusting Nut. Double check that both balance shafts are at TDC with each other and you're done.

m00nr0ck Si

Just loosen the tensioner bolt that is sticking out of the timing cover....retighten it.....turn crank pulley counter clockwise about 3-4 teeth on the cam gear....loosen tensioner bolt ,then retighten.....your done

SkylineKin

ok so I know thats how to tension the timing belt, but is it the same for the balance shaft belt? i guess I can try it and see.

m00nr0ck Si

Yes the manual tensioner on the H23 tensions both belts...and yes the balance shaft belt feels as if its a little loose when properly tensioned but dont tighten it by pushing on the belt etc....just do it like the book says and call it good.

street_ride14

No, there are two tensioners. One for the timing belt, commonly known as the 'manual tensioner', and the other tensioner for the balance shaft belt. Look it up.

SkylineKin

well i ended up having to take it apart again and locked the timing belt tensioner with a bolt while i properly tensioned the balance shaft belt by loosening the adjustment and turning one full revolution counterclockwise and then re tightened the adjustment bolt. No more noise.