Hydraulic Tensioners

[ChrisBruggemann]

Had a Hydraulic tensioner fail on me the other day. Less then 10k old and lost all tension giving me a odd vibration, thankfully no teeth were skipped. I got the tensioner off and it could be pressed in by hand.

Just curious to see if anyone else has had premature failure of their tensioners?

 

[MDK87]

I haven't seen that before!
Do you know what brand it was mate?

 

[Liberoz]

Never seen one that new fail, in fact only ever seen two in the last 15years on mitsu evo's fail, was it a Oem item or aftermarket replacement?

 

[Advanced Jap]

Had a Hydraulic tensioner fail on me the other day. Less then 10k old and lost all tension giving me a odd vibration, thankfully no teeth were skipped. I got the tensioner off and it could be pressed in by hand.

Just curious to see if anyone else has had premature failure of their tensioners?

fark you got me all paranoid now

after spending big bucks on custom pistons and ferrea valves

might have to look for a adjustable aftermarket tensioner

anyone know who sells them ?

 

[EVOCPE]

I got the same problem with mine, my timing belt is loose but hasnt skipped any teeth, i goto rip mine out soon and replace it with a new 1, its got an OEM in it at the moment

 

[Liberoz]

I would say the issue is with all those about to jump on the aftermarket mod wagon

Is setting the tension on the tensioner pulley incorrectly not the tensioner itself malfunctioning.


The 2 Units that I have seen fail were on 88 vr4 and on a dohc galant 87

So before you all go out buying after market manual tensioner's
I suggest questioning who/how the tension was set in the first place.

 

[EVO-00X]

I've never come across any OEM rooted ones either. I always give them the vice and allen key check before re-using them. In a perfect world where everybody has limitless money you'd buy new ones every engine build but its not necessary (depends on how many kms you're car has done too).

 

[ChrisBruggemann]

It was purchased from meek, i believe it was oem.. And liberoz I followed a workshop manual the whole way while doing it, everything was done correctly.

 

[Richard]

fark you got me all paranoid now

after spending big bucks on custom pistons and ferrea valves

might have to look for a adjustable aftermarket tensioner

anyone know who sells them ?

Your competion!

I dunno If he makes em but CVAP has a manual adjusting tensioner for sale in exchange for your old one on his Website.

 

[kayarubin]

i am one of those who just doesnt trust the hydraulic tensioner. i think having the manual one would help most people sleep at night. i am seriously considering the manual one for my engine build...

does anyone know wether you have to re-tension it after you've run the engine or is it as simple as tension, turn engine a cople of times by hand, re-tension...?

 

[kayarubin]

oh and exactly what sound was the belt making when the tensioner failed???

 

[EVO-00X]

Its a simple test that I do religiously every timing belt change or engine teardown. After you've clamped the tensioner inside a vice (it should take a while as its a slow process to compress the suckers), place a small allen key into the hole to keep the pin in. Remove the tensioner from the vice and then quickly remove the pin. If it fully extends in the blink of an eye its working. If it over extends more than 12mm is fukt.

I have no doubt that a lot of people and workshops out there dont even bother to conduct this simple check. There's no reason why you cant keep the tensioner over a period of two or more timing belt changes as long as it passes the test. If you want to change it every timing belt change or every 2nd belt change its your own perogative

 

[EVOCPE]

So whats the advantages of the Mechanical tensioner as opposed to the hydrolic??

http://www.cvap.com.au/?StartAt=15&...=Lancer_EVO/GSR/vr4&search=Lancer_EVO/GSR/vr4

 

[EVO-00X]

This is opening up a can of worms, but some people prefer to go manual tensioner to manually set the tension on the timing belt. But if the timing belt stretches the manual tensioner wont take up the slack so you will have a slack timing belt that can skip teeth and/or let go.

Whereas the auto tensioner pin automatically comes out enough to take up the slack in a stretched belt and keeps the timing belt firm and taught against the cam gears to prevent the chance of skipping teeth.

 

[rob323]

i am one of those who just doesn't trust the hydraulic tensioner. i think having the manual one would help most people sleep at night. i am seriously considering the manual one for my engine build...

does anyone know whether you have to re-tension it after you've run the engine or is it as simple as tension, turn engine a couple of times by hand, re-tension...?

Are you willing to pull all the accessory belts off and remove the timing belt cover every 10 000 kms or so to retention the belt as it stretches? I wouldn't.

All the timing belt problems I have had to fix were caused by faulty workmanship, not faulty components.

 

[BMGTZ]

Are you willing to pull all the accessory belts off and remove the timing belt cover every 10 000 kms or so to retention the belt as it stretches? I wouldn't.

All the timing belt problems I have had to fix were caused by faulty workmanship, not faulty components.

I did plenty of the ealier toyota engines....never did have to do a retension or had one break.

 

[ChrisBruggemann]

The noise i got sounded like an exhaust vibration or bad harmonics. Everything was just resonating below 3k. I couldnt pin point the problem untill it got very bad and actually started to sound like an exhaust leak. I gathered it started to sound like this because the belt was getting extremely loose and actually fowling on the covers.

I checked everything 100 times when i first did my timing belt and being a noob at it i even was on the phone to craig for about 20minutes making sure i'd done everything perfectly. Sorry craig lol. But i guess i was just an unlucky one who had a tensioner fail and lucky that valves didnt meet pistons.

And im in agreeance with the others on the manual tensioner, seems like a good idea in theory but i would definitly not be keen to retention as belt stretches. And i like to have the peace of mind of the hydraulic tensioner knowing it auto adjusts to a certain degree.

 

[kayarubin]

The noise i got sounded like an exhaust vibration or bad harmonics. Everything was just resonating below 3k. I couldnt pin point the problem untill it got very bad and actually started to sound like an exhaust leak. I gathered it started to sound like this because the belt was getting extremely loose and actually fowling on the covers.

I checked everything 100 times when i first did my timing belt and being a noob at it i even was on the phone to craig for about 20minutes making sure i'd done everything perfectly. Sorry craig lol. But i guess i was just an unlucky one who had a tensioner fail and lucky that valves didnt meet pistons.

And im in agreeance with the others on the manual tensioner, seems like a good idea in theory but i would definitly not be keen to retention as belt stretches. And i like to have the peace of mind of the hydraulic tensioner knowing it auto adjusts to a certain degree.

i am gettin that sound aswell. its kinda like a whirring type sound and it seems like its coming from the front of the engine.... it only does it when its cold and under 3 grand (round 1700-2500rpm) and every once in a while it makes a supercarger type whine but as soon as it hits 2900-3000 rpm it instantly disappears....... the belt sometimes feels loose between the cam gears (~1cm movement) and other times its fine....

damn lemon VR4's lol.

 

[Richard]

i am gettin that sound aswell. its kinda like a whirring type sound and it seems like its coming from the front of the engine.... it only does it when its cold and under 3 grand (round 1700-2500rpm) and every once in a while it makes a supercarger type whine but as soon as it hits 2900-3000 rpm it instantly disappears....... the belt sometimes feels loose between the cam gears (~1cm movement) and other times its fine....

damn lemon VR4's lol.

Whirring type sound sounds more like you have the belt to tight

 

[EVO-00X]

Thaty whirring sound you hear is typical of a loose timing belt.