Here are some pics of the debris and the actual auto tensioner and where it failed/busted.








This was after about 50K miles i wanna say. Needless to say, i get all my manual tensioner conversion parts tomarrow. Also, the belt never snapped. It stayed in tact long enough for me to catch it. No damage was done to the head and the car was still running fine when it was garaged.

 

I need to change mine.

Only 50k, would that be covered under a warranty?

 

WOW! Lucky catch on your part. Good Luck

Maybe you could do a little write up on it. Fill in the blanks of the current one.

 

finally a pic of where they actually fail, goodluck on the conversion, the belt will be a bitch to put on but keep on fighting it

 

yea i wish i took pics to show you all...my timing cover was stuffed with timing belt shavings and the belt had lost about 3/4'' of its thickness

mine blew apart and wouldn't hold oil anymore...looks like urs really took a beating

 

yea it took a mean beating. Same thing happaned to my tbelt. It lost about 3/4 of its thickness and scuffed up the lower timing cover pretty good. Its still reuseable though ( the lower cover not the belt )

Doing the conversion while the motor is in the car doesnt look like it will be all that difficult. I removed the entire side motor mount and power steering pump and have more then enough room to work.

 

yea...the only thing about having it out is putting the belt on easier...but youll have enough room pending you dont have cave-man hands...good luck

 

I read through alot of the FAQ post about the manual tensioner fix, but couldn't find this.. Does a 1994 H22a have the manual or the hydraulic tensioner?

Is that hydraulic tensioner on all H22s?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prelewd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is that hydraulic tensioner on all H22s?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yup, it's on all H22's. The manual only comes on H23's.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by snowblind7x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yup, it's on all H22's. The manual only comes on H23's.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Dare I ask why?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prelewd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Dare I ask why?</TD></TR></TABLE>

If only we knew....Maybe an attempted improvement that failed miserably...

 

I have no idea why honda would switch over to a system that likes to fail every 30-50K miles. Maybe to make the extra 74 bucks everytime you need to replace the tensioner ?

Who knows. All i know is the damn thing is a POS. No worries from here on out. Ill just check the belt tensioner every 30K or so and thats it.

 

Mine was making a god awful noise (like a growling sound) in between shifts. I brought it to honda and got it fixed under warentee at 68k.

Listen for the noise....

 

i had the same noise. My car has over 115K miles on it, hence why i dont go to the stealership anymore.

Besides, i think i have more tools and knowledge of my car/motor better then most of their hired techs. I trust myself and my work more then some random grease monkey, thats just me though.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CGags13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but youll have enough room pending you dont have cave-man hands...good luck</TD></TR></TABLE>

Me have caveman hands

 

Any modifications to your motor? I've heard the main problem with the auto tensioner is they don't take kindly to mods. Pretty much a threshold item from the factory.

When mine went, it sounded like a coffee can being shaken with about a dozen marbles in it. Yup, I had a few bent valves.

 

I removed all modifications over 30K ago.

I had a JUN head and prospeed header running on hondata.


I think the fact of the matter is at about 35-50K miles they just crap out. They were designed to be a wear and tear item. The location where mine snapped is at the metal casting at the top of the tensioner. Also, the "oil" that was supposed to be inside the unit was a sludge, not liquid oil as it should have been.

I just dont think these were constructed with longevity in mind.

 

I guess the key is ....listen for the noise and either take it to the dealership or fix it yourself. but the noise is a clear indication to be cautious

 

have you guys that had auto's snap have any warning before they snap? a weird flapping sound? any of you have ones that just fail and screw your engine?

do jdm h22's come with autos too? i'm wondering b/c i have somewhere around 55,000-85,000 miles on my jdm h22 and i assume a manual tensioner will come soon.

 

Yes jdm h22's come with auto tensioners( well at least mine did) i swapped that ish for the H23 manual tensioner. You never know, there could be some out there.

 

I cant wait to do my man tens swapnext week with my susp install...