Ok so my alternator took a $h!t the other day and just got one today and got it put on after work, well everything seemed fine until I took off and as I was warming up the car I noticed a weird vibration/noise so turned around to go back to garage and check it out well long story short it was the timing belt slapping cause it was loose, as soon as I found out what it was I killed it. I assume the tensioner pulley is going bad? Anyone ever ran into this? It didnt jump timing thank god, but I am frustrated ive been wothout an evo for like a week and as soon as I get it back together it's another issue. Is it a pretty intense job to get to this?

 

I cant imagine a timing belt being lose and not jumping timing....

 

me either.... op go buy a lotto ticket and one for me as well please.

 

It wasn't loose enough to let it jump teeth just loose enough to let it vibrate. I mean don't get me wrong I feel it's lucky I caught it, but it's not as loose as u guys are probably thinking. My question is, have u guys seen these hydraulic tensioners fail?

 

Anything mechanical can fail. Take it apart and start checking things

 

Already in the process, just frustrating since I just got a clutch and new tranny and new axle seals and then an alternator and now this, maybe if the previous owner had done some more maintenence.... Man I love evos

 

I have seen it on my own car-- did a timing belt and checked tension before starting, fired it up and it seemed ok. Ran it for 2 days and checked again and it had lost tension between the pulleys. Had to reset the tensioner and it hasnt happened again.
As for the tensioner--replace it if there is a question as to it doing its job--the result of not doing it is far more costly then the price of the tensioner itself.

 

When doing my belt I had the tensioner set to where the pin slid with no drag and then I retired. Next morning the pin was tight. So, do over.

The tensioner has a spring inside and is filled with viscus oil and a piston that forces this oil through a small orifice. This allows the tensioner to adjust but only slowly. So, you adjust, wait, and then adjust again until perfect.

 

Had to drive around for a couple months with a bad tensioner. Belt would get really loud and loose when engine was cold.

Change the belt and tensioner. It was fairly lengthy the first time, but I have done it 3 times since then and can knock it out in several hours (without even removing the crank sprocket).

You will be surprised how well it keeps time with it loose. Just don't park uphill with it in gear or downhill with it in reverse

 

ya it sounds like hydraulic tensioner is crapping out.. and also yes.. ive seen them so loose u can almost take the belt off and u can fire the car up and drive on it, and it never skips timing.

pretty crazy.

what causes the tensioners to go early usually is from how they are installed. if your installer lets it fly open all in 1 quick jump you can blow the hydraulics out in the tensioner or shorten life drastically.

this is why i invest in the special rod tool to be able to control it and pin it so i can avoid that nonsense.

 

Ya I am gonna install it with a borrowed threaded rod tool, once i get the new tensioner. This sounds about right, the previous owner had a new timing belt installed about 8k miles ago and instead of taking it to a reputable guy (my current tuner) in town that is known for working on evos, he took it somewhere else that was cheaper and probably didn't use the rod tool. My current tuner told me after they were done putting the head back on due to a blown gasket, he brought the car to him cause it was running like $h!t and there were vacuum lines crossed up and what not so really wouldn't surprise me. I am pulling it apart today and am outta beer from partying last night I hate Indiana's no beer sales on Sunday law lol.

 

Little vid of my findings

 

Ordered it today 144 bucks really lol. Does that vid of how easy it is to push up and down appear like there's no oil in it?

 

Looks shot to me.

 

Considering I have to use a C clamp to get them to hold down and you are simply pushing it down with your thumb, I would say it is shot. As far as compression/decompressing goes, I wouldn't be concerned with letting it decompress fast, I would be more concerned with letting it compress too quickly, which is why they say to slowing compress it with a C clamp if you need to do that.

I have always let my tensioners just decompress without the rod tool and have never had any issues with them. Even my old *** one (60k miles) was still holding enough tension to still need the C clamp to compress it.

If your tensioner is old enough to be that jacked up, I would consider looking at your idler/tensioner pulleys as well. I just replaced mine after the ones on my old 95 corolla seized and caused my timing belt to strip all the teeth off. Luckily that was a non interference engine, but that is not the case with the evo.