anyone know of a good tool to pull on the timing belt tensioner with that you can buy and stick down there to hook on to the tensioner and pull it up? Some friends of mine made their own but i want to try and find something.

 

uhh why are you trying to pull on the tensioner? The spring is supposed to do that.

1. push pulley all the way down and tighten bolt to make it easier to install belt.
2. install belt starting with crank sprocket -> tensioner -> water pump -> exhaust cam gear -> intake cam gear. It's VERY important that you put it over the intake cam gear last to make sure it's in time.
3. loosen tensioner bolt to let spring pull up on pulley.
4. snug bolt down.
5. rotate crank 5-6 times to make sure engine stays in time.
6. loosen tensioner bolt.
7. rotate crank by 3 teeth on the cam gears to remove slack from the long side of the belt.
8. tighten tensioner bolt and torque to spec.

 

actually, I never use the spring, its a PIA. so this is what I do, and have been doing for years. go get a metal coat hanger, stretch it out and on the J hook end, straighten that out too.. now, with a pair of needle nose pliers, grab the very end and turn it, like a small J, use a pair of dykes and cut the end off so only 1/8 of an inch is left on the end.

now, with a flashlight, lower it into the area of the tensioner, insert the J end into the part where the spring goes, loosen the tensioner with a 14mm, pull up on your coat hanger, and tighten the 14mm bolt.

if this is done correctly, you wont need the spring, and you would have already been done about 2 minutes ago. what are you waiting for? its easy!

oh ya, and make sure all of what he said above is done too. I would only recommend that you make the exhaust side of the belt tight before you pull on the tensinoner, since the tensioner tightens the intake side.

 

look ive changed a billion timing belts on my race car and personal cars but when you have all that ps and ac crap in the way it takes more tricks especially with a stubborn tensioner. That coat hanger idea sounds pretty good, might try that tomorrow, i guess with it short like that it should be pretty strong, i just didnt think a hanger would be stiff enough.

 

You still shouldn't have to touch the tensioner, it can be done very easily without pulling on it.

 

theres a lot of people that don't agree with stock tension.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPOOLINmatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">look ive changed a billion timing belts on my race car and personal cars but when you have all that ps and ac crap in the way it takes more tricks especially with a stubborn tensioner. That coat hanger idea sounds pretty good, might try that tomorrow, i guess with it short like that it should be pretty strong, i just didnt think a hanger would be stiff enough. </TD></TR></TABLE>

How does it require more tricks? The spring pulls on the tensioner for you. All you have to do is loosen the bolt and turn the belt via the crank pulley bolt.

I have changed my timing belt both with the engine in the car and with it out of the car. Using a coat hanger or whatever would just be another step and require another hand (one to pull, the other to tighten the bolt).

My engine has 270K miles on it, and it's on its 4th timing belt. I change both the tensioner pulley and the spring along with the timing belt and water pump every 90K miles. It certainly has never had any problems using the spring to tension the belt properly.

 

In all honesty, sometimes the stock components do their job, sometimes it leaves me a bit weary.

I use a precision pick, with a U-Hook that has an extended handle, and a pair of normal pliers.

Can give you pictures if you need to get a mental image.

 

I'm with patrick on this one, the stock tensioner/spring work just fine if you follow the instructions and use it properly, why complicate things anymore than what they already are? I just bought my first Honda (well, Acura) and did my first ever timing belt/water pump/tensioner using the stock system and it was a piece of cake! (being an ex-mustang guy I've never touched a timing belt before)

 

I recently bought a 94 civic dx with a rebuilt engine. Two day ago the car started running differently at idle and taking off from a stop. I looked at the engine and found that the timing belt was very loose. It now races up and down at idle. Could you walk me through how to tighten it?

 

use a metal shirt hanger

 

I use a pry bar, on the end of the crank as the fulcrum, and push the tensioner up as I tighten the tensioner bolt. The coat hanger method requires another person which I don't usually have.

If you guys read the OE helms manual the tensioner spring is only used to add tension when the belt is first installed. It is not used for final tension.
1) After initial install, turning the crank 3-5 turns to set the belt on the pulleys.
2) Loosen the tensioner bolt and then turn the crank so the cam pulley turns 2-3 teeth. In this stage the cams pressing against the rockers sets the tension to the belt. Tensioner spring does nothing in this stage. I use the prybar in this stage to add some belt tension. You can even remove the tensioner spring in this stage with no ill effects.

 

If you hold the crankshaft from moving and turn the intake cam gear clockwise it will remove all the play needed - it only takes two hands and a foot, but works perfect everytime. I use to pry on my tensioner a little until my tensioner was too tight and popped loose and bent two valves.

 

I still think all these "methods" are fairly dangerous, as you just mentioned about it being too tight and bending valves.

Using the factory method only requires one hand - to turn the crank pulley slightly. Then use the same hand w/ a wrench to tighten the tensioner pulley bolt. Alot easier than using 2 hands and a foot to hold and turn various things at the same time IMHO.

 

i use a flathead screwdriver to push up on the tensioner pulley right where the spring goes in. oem tension scares me, i dont like the idea of my timing belt slapping around when im 9000 rpms. i keep mine at just enough slack that i can grab the belt between the exhaust cam and crank and move it about half in foward and half inch back, and its able to just about be rotated 90*