"Elle" wrote in news:gOboi.8957 $ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:
I had a look at the photos on your site.
Something does not look right.
See how the tensioner has a kidney-shaped hole in it? You'll notice the curve of the hole is axial to the pivot hole shown to the right of the photos.
The spring is shown extending radially from the tensioner. This is surely incorrect: the spring cannot operate in this orientation. The spring should be rotated 90 degrees either one way or the other from its current position. In other words, it should be TANGENT to the tensioner.
The purpose of the spring is to pull the tensioner away from the crankshaft, pulling the belt with it. The spring must be AXIAL to the crank, but TANGENT to the tensioner.
See this pic:
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I marked it up kinda quickly, so you may have to spend a bit of time figuring out what goes where.
If this is not clear (and I suspect it will not be), let me know and I will redo in more dramatic fashion.
that spring doesn't look right. it's /definitely/ not correctly oriented. it should be a shorter thicker spring, and it's got a plastic sleeve on it. it hooks onto a pin above the idler so that it causes the idler to rotate about its fixed pivot point.
My photo-taking bad: The new tensioner actually now installed on my Honda does have the spring "acting" tangentially. What I photographed was a "mock-up" using the old tensioner and old spring, thrown together hastily with no attention to detail.
I checked several Hondas at the junkyard yesterday. As far as the spring orientation is concerned, these Hondas' tensioner installations look like my Honda's.
I can follow this drawing very easily. Thank you. What you labeled the "pivot point" is where I may have messed up. While I wondered about that "pivot point" hole opposite where the spring attaches, I did not figure out that it was a pivot point.
At this point I have been searching for instructions specifically on "tensioner installation," because none of my FS manuals say anything about looking for this peg and hanging the tensioner on it... It's not like this peg is easy to notice, given the tightness of this space. Nothing in the newsgroup archives mentions this, either. I guess it should have been obvious that the other, larger hole does have a function.
I think the only question now is whether I should go back in there, check everything, and follow the steps for tensioning again, this time paying more attention to the peg etc. Before starting the car a few days ago, I rotate the crankshaft about three times and watched the TB. Also, it's been 150 miles of problem-free driving since then.
Admittedly I can probably get back in there and out again in a morning at this point.
Or maybe I can just take the upper timing cover off and feel to see if the spring is in tension? I think I was getting away with this at the junkyard yesterday.
"Elle" wrote in news:pfeoi.10420 $ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:
Take the upper timing cover off. Put a socket on the crank bolt, and put all the slack on the tensioner side by applying some counterclockwise pressure on the socket.
How much slack is there? If there appears not enough slack to make the belt move much away from the crank timing belt pulley teeth, then you're fine. Remember that the crank timing belt pulley is very small, and presents the most danger for a jumped belt. If you can't decide if there's enough slack to make the belt jump the crank pulley, then you'll need to take enough apart that you can see the crank timing belt pulley.
Once the tensioner bolt is tightened, the spring ceases to have any function. If the tension is OK, just leave everything alone.
If you can't decide if the amount of slack you have is OK, leave the upper timing cover off and drive to a garage. Ask a tech there for his professional opinion.
I appreciate this information. I was unsure of how critical it was to have the tensioner's larger hole (= the one opposite where the spring attaches) on the peg. Also, I'd never had tension on the spring (in this past week of travails, albeit mostly good learning ones). Not knowing any better, this morning in 3.5 hours I went in there, got the tensioner properly "pegged," got the spring properly tensed, set the tension, rotated the crank a few times and watched for smooth operation and neither too much slack nor too much tightness, buttoned her up, checked the timing. All is well. Thanks so much for sticking with me on this one.
I am getting really fast at changing timing belts.
"Elle" wrote in news:j2toi.10554 $ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:
That's extremely important. The tensioner will not function unless it can pivot on that peg.
Just glad to help.
I was also kind of curious what the problem was. As I said earlier, it's easy to assemble the tensioner incorrectly, since it can go together several different ways.
Experience counts. The first time I removed a Macpherson strut it took me over an hour. The second time it was 20 minutes. By the third time I was down to five minutes.
It's just a (bad) scan from my '91 Integra's shop manual. I then added the text in a graphics program.
I had the scan resolution set very low without noticing it, which is why it's so bad. I corrected the wrong text, but otherwise will leave this one alone.
By any chance do you mean the tensioner's //spring// will not function unless the tensioner housing can pivot on the peg? And if this is so, then given that you observed that, "Once the tensioner bolt is tightened, the spring ceases to have any function... you could even remove the spring if you wanted... ," then the peg also only has a function during this tension adjusting step, so it too could be removed?
I think it's very helpful. My web site on this is garbage at the moment. I will either take it down or re-do it. If I re-do it, and if you do not mind, I may put the PDF file on it. Okay?
I do not see this drawing at the UK site's "factory service" manuals. Do you know whether the UK sites's manuals are abbreviated ones? Plus there is no "tensioner replacement" section; only an "adjusting TB tension" one. Does your Acura shop manual have a "tensioner replacement" section?
"Elle" wrote in news:uMJoi.9584 $ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:
You could put it that way, yes.
But ultimately the result is the same either way, in that the tensioner will not take up the slack of the belt if the tensioner is not properly located on the peg.
Yes. The bolt you tighten is what holds the tensioner in place for normal use. The spring just provides the initial preload on the belt.
My statement about removing the spring was intended as an illustration, not as something you would actually want to do.
It's yours. I just ask that you attribute the diagram to my site.
No it doesn't. Mine only has an adjustment section. Plus a couple of diagrams showing exploded views of the area that has the tensioner.
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