Installed new tensioner on a '91 Teg LS. Now Im doubting if it was installed correctly but its pretty simple so I dont know. Here are the exact steps I followed from the Helms: Put the crank and cams at TDC, insert pins into cam holes so they dont turn. Loosen tensioner, put the new timming belt on the ex cam first, the slip on the intake side. turn so 3 teeth pass each other, tighten tensioner. Spin crank over few times to get the tension right while making sure it still lines up at tdc.

After I tighten up the tensioner.. it gets a little bit tighter but not much. The belt is still loose, just not sloppy loose like it was when I put it on. As I continue to manually turn the engine over the belt is so loose that eventually the cams get out of whack and are no longer parrallel to each other - even tho no teeth are skipped (carefuly watching the cams).

Im not real sure how the tensioner works. Im assuming after its tight the tensioner cannot move or adjust, therefor its not "self adjusting". I honestly dont see how that little ***** spring the size of a pencil can provide the nessecary force to tighten a timming belt anyways.

What the hell is wrong?

 

bump?

 

If you loosen the tensioner and turn the crank so that it puts a little tension on the exhaust cam (turn crank counter clockwise) it will put all the slack on the tensioner side. Tighten the tensioner while keeping a little pressure on the exhaust cam. Hope that helps.

 

I tried that and the tensioner does not tighten the belt hardly at all.

 

Get someone else to help you pull on the spring or just get a new one.

 

ok I took everything back off and inspected the tensioner. Its installed properly, you really cant screw this up. It pivots on the one pin and the other side is where the spring connects to. The spring does NOT put very much pressure on the tensioner.

I fear this maybe because the used tensioner I bought was from a different car ('00 Civic Si) and it probably isnt the same part. But I asked this question on here and I asked the guy who sold it to me and everyone said it would work. Can anyone confirm this to be true or not??

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=470617

 

You can manually manipulate the tensioner when you tighten it. Get a hanger or long screwdriver or prybar and push up on the side with the spring. This will push the tensioner against the belt and tighten the belt. Don't overdo it though, a tight timing belt will cause premature wear on bearings and cams. So make sure its tight, but not super tight. About 1 inch of deflection is the max when it is done.

 

Do this with the crank pulley on and the inner timing belt cover on? I dont see how I could get access to the timing belt with that in the way but I cant align the crank to TDC without them.

 

You can get to the tensioner with the top timing belt cover removed. If you look straight down the front of the lower cover, you can see the tensioner. The spring comes off one end and goes up to a stationary point. You can use a hanger or long screwdriver to push up on that piece, kinda like a teeter-totter. By doing this, it will tighten the belt, but you have to tighten the tensioner bolt down at the same time.

 

I've been known to use a long, bent coathanger to 'fish' for the tensioner. After applying force, tighten. Voila!

 

okay, LITERALLY, the SPRING is the tensioner.

the spring puts tension on the belt by pulling on the gear that the spring is attached to.

the tensioner spring will not put much force on the belt, it will remove slack and not much.
changing out the old spring to a new spring is th eonly way to change belt tension when following the honda method of tensioning the belt. but you can as others suggested, move the tensioning gear in a way to put more tension on the belt...

but it just takes some slack out, is there a delfection measurement suggestion in the Helms manual for the timing belt somewhere?>

good luck chum!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by owen_the_soyboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">okay, LITERALLY, the SPRING is the tensioner.

the spring puts tension on the belt by pulling on the gear that the spring is attached to.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I know, I hooked the end of the bent coathanger under the 'lip' at the bottom of the spring. I wasn't pulling on the arm, I was pulling on the spring.

 

The coat hanger idea was awesome. It worked beautifully to put tension on the tbelt and had a friend tighten the bolt while it was tight.

The only thing crappy about this method is that you cant have the lower timing belt plastic cover on or else you cant gain access to the tensioner, which also means the crank pulley has to come off to get the cover off. And when the crank pulley is off you dont know if your at perfect TDC. After I put the crank pulley back on, it must have moved a little bit when we were installing the tbelt bc it was off a bit. But Im gonna try it again and hopefully get this hunk of junk running.

 

You can do it with the lower cover on. Just remove the upper front cover, look down in the lower cover, to the left of the motor mount, you should see the spring for the tensioner. You can hook the bottom of the spring or the arm on the tensioner(where the spring attaches). I just straightend a coat hanger, grabbed one end with pliers about 1/4" from the end, bend to make a V shape, fish for pulley spring.

 

Yep, what he said That's what I did!