Does anyone know if the tensioner pulley bolt needs to be loosened first before we screw down the tensioner tool (MD998738)? The service manual says to screw it down until the auto tensioner compresses then put a pin in the two holes, but VFAQs says to loosen the bolt first before screwing it down.

I know I can just loosen the bolt and see for myself but I want to confirm with someone who has done this before.

 

You can't just remove the balance shaft belt. There is one balance shaft that runs off its own belt the other balance shaft runs off the oil pump.

If you have the tool that compresses the tensioner in the car there is no need to remove it or loosen any bolts. If you don't have that tool the other way is to remove it and use the vice trick.

You don't have to loosen any bolts to collapse the tensioner. If you do loosen the tensioner pulley bolt it takes another special tool to rotate it back to where it is supposed to go. Screw the tensioner tool down until it stops, don't torque it down, just until the tensioner is fully collapsed. Ideally when everything is back together you should be able to spin the motor over a few times and the holes in the tensioner should still line up.

 

Thanks for your response, cruizinmax. I didn't want to over turn the tensioner with the tensioner tool (was at 20 turns before I stopped and decided to go another route). I loosened the tensioner pulley bolt and rotated it to get more slack. Then I took off the auto tensioner and used a vice to compress it. Next, I timed the cam belt and rotated the tensioner pulley to keep the belt taut( tigthtened the tensioner pulley bolt). With everything looking perfect, I put the tensioner back on the car and pulled the pin out after rotating the crank twice (the pin was loose because the tensioner arm was holding it down now for some reason). Left it there for 15-20 minutes while I put the downpipe and bars back on. Measured the distance between the arm and the auto tensioner body and it was in spec so everything went back on the car.

This was a nice experience and I wouldn't mind doing it again since I'll know what I'm doing this time. lol

 

I'm glad everything went ok for you. Also you should still be able to slide the pin in and out of the auto tensioner with no resistance after you have spun the motor over a few times.