When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
if i go out and rotate mine right now... .at no time anywhere in the revolutions is my belt that loose...
and im big cam, big valve... blah .. blah.
i dont think somethin is right.
that tensioner somewhat sets at a spot... it doesnt bounce back and forth... it slowly adjust to keep the belt tensioned correctly
I would guess your tension is off and the reason you see the belt tighten up because the cams are putting tension on the belt at that spot in the rotation, but somewhere else your belt is loose.
you sure you followed the procedure and then used the free pin method to verify it was correct?
The best advice I can give you is to think for yourself.
When the engine is at rest, the timing belt will loosen once the cams find low points. The lifters are needed to keep rockers tight against cam lobes at all times. I never understand how you can put in fully filled lifters because it no longer lifts to fill any slack (as lobes wear down). Also, if lifters are too pumped up, it won't allow your valves to close.
I use oem lifters and bleed them down so that each rocker is "squishy" where I can press down a little with cams installed (if completely empty, it will take longer to fill up).
But the main idea is to install them squishy so that valves do fully close. As cam pumps the lifters by pressing rockers down, it will start to fill up with oil and then your valves will slowly open to the cam design.
Also, you really don't know if it is "stiff" by pressing with your fingers. Valve springs get to 150psi pressure and I don't think you can come close to holding that pressure before launching your lifter across the room
And answer to your question is lifters are not why your timing belt is loose. Check the tensioner bearing bolt holding that beaing with 2 holes. If your belt is loose, that bolt may not be tightened enough and is slipping. Your belt will fall off if this comes loose.
Yeah the whole "bleeding" of the lifters was confusing because there's a ton of conflicting information out there. I'll try it your way and I'm also going to give GSC a call tomorrow and see if they can give me info about the reasoning for their method.
I'm almost positive that the tensioning bearing bolt was torqued correctly, but I will double check.
Remember too as you tighten the tensioner pully it wants to loosen up so you must hold it with the tool as you tighten down. Also I would pull timing covers off and set to tdc see if the tensioner pin can be inserted freely if not that's your answer.
Thanks for all the feedback. I'm going to see if I can get some time to work on this tomorrow or this weekend. This is my game plan. Is there anything else that I should replace or look at? I just checked my invoice and the belt is Gates, but the tensioner and pulleys were both OEM.
1. I'll set the motor to TDC, remove the timing cover, and test with the grenade pin to see if it's set correctly.
2. After that I can check to make sure the tensioner pulley is torqued correctly and not slipping.
3. I'm going to check the Intake Cam and Exhaust cam to make sure they're correct and also redo the lifters.
if i go out and rotate mine right now... .at no time anywhere in the revolutions is my belt that loose...
and im big cam, big valve... blah .. blah.
i dont think somethin is right.
that tensioner somewhat sets at a spot... it doesnt bounce back and forth... it slowly adjust to keep the belt tensioned correctly
I would guess your tension is off and the reason you see the belt tighten up because the cams are putting tension on the belt at that spot in the rotation, but somewhere else your belt is loose.
you sure you followed the procedure and then used the free pin method to verify it was correct?
Thanks for checking your car for me! Yeah, I'm sure that I used that method, but I must have done something incorrectly or have a bad part. I'm going to double check again and see if I can figure it out.
at no time anywhere in the revolutions is my belt that loose...
and im big cam, big valve... blah .. blah.
This. That is not normal, Something is not right. Correct tension would not allow cams to move and create slack.
When you installed the belt you wrapped it around clockwise starting at the exhaust cam and leaving all slack at the tensioner location right?
That tensioner pulley may have slipped from its original location after you put it all together and turned it over.
OK, so I was able to pull it apart tonight. This is what I found.
1. The grenade pin moves in and out of the tensioner freely as it should. 2. The tensioner did have some oil at the bottom. A few drops, but not enough where it actually dripped off the tensioner. I'm going to order an OEM tensioner & replace it. If the pin still move in and out freely, then would the oil drops be the issue? 3. I can't remember if I installed the belt clockwise starting at the exhaust cam gear, but all timing marks line up perfectly. 4. I checked the tensioner pulley and it was torqued correctly to 35ftlbs. 5. I didn't check the tensioner arm since the belt was still on, but I did see where I had previously applied grease so I'm pretty sure that I had checked that it moves freely, when I did the install. 6. I took a video of the tension between the Intake Cam Gear and the Tensioner Pulley to show the amount of play.
7. I'm going to order an OEM belt. I read that the Evo 9 belt is better than the Evo 8 belt. What do you think?
8. I'm thinking about ordering a Kiggly 12 tooth Crank Trigger, since I'm running AEM Infinity. Anyone have experience running this setup?
9. I called GSC and they confirmed that their lifters should be installed fully extended. It also says this in the factory manual, but to fill it with diesel fuel instead of oil. So much conflicting info, but it seems like nearly everyone is installing them squishy, so I'm going to do that.
the evo 9 belt is a good belt... thats what i have on mine.
since the tensioner pin is in the correct position... geez man i dont know.
the last video you posted looks about right to me.
i guess my point above... is if the tensioner is working correctly, and the belt is not defective, it wouldnt let the belt have that much slack in it no matter where the motor is in its rotation.
I didn't read the whole thread, but I noticed the oil on the tensioner. Did you put any thread sealant on the tensioner bolts? If I remember right, one or both of them are connected to the oil lines.
