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1G 1g timing belt tensioner gap?

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rw87tt

10+ Year Contributor
67
2
Jul 13, 2008
Houston, Texas
I replaced the timing belt and all associated components on my 1g. The belt is the high dollar Gates 167 and new Mitsubishi tensioner. I set the gap between the tensioner and the bracket at .15 like you're suppose to. Rotated the engine six times and waited. Checked the gap and it's still good. I wanted to make sure everything was ok so I put the motor mount back on and ran the car up to temperature. the next day I checked the gap on the tensioner and it was a lot less than .15. I rotated the engine to where all the timing marks line up and checked the gap and it was pretty close to .15. I've done this step twice and after I let it sit overnight and look at the gap its way less that .15. The last time the gap had gone to zero, but when I rotate the engine by hand and recheck the gap its at .15.
My questions are. Do I have a faulty tensioner? Is this normal for these engines? Is this associated with this particular belt? Thanks for any feed back and I would really appreciate it.
 
Actual gap range is .157 to .175 . Why it's usually recommended to stay OEM MD-326059 since they were specifically made for the 4G63.

Maybe do a slight regap with a range in between the above numbers then see what happens.

You throw in an aftermarket belt and you may have some unknown issues.

Nothing wrong with GATES belts though-great belts always.
 
I'm going to re gap it between those numbers. I hate to not use the belt since I already paid for it. Thanks.
 
I don't think it is after reading up on it. I ran the engine up and rechecked the belt and the gap was still good. One of the other issues is that it whines and I don't like that. I'm going to keep messing with it to fix that. I keep reading that the noise issue is the tensioner. I don't really feel comfortable driving it like that.
 
Whining usually spells a belt being on too tight.

The hydraulic tensioner may not be flexing or similar.

An easy test on this is: on the back side of the belt travel (the long side) try to twist the belt close to a quarter turn. If you can, the belt tension is close to being adjusted correctly, but if you can't twist the belt that quarter turn, it might be running too tight and it's whining across the sprockets.

But as other mentions that a different material belt can cause unfriendly issues.
 
I also have the gates belt and I can never get it adjusted quite right . Great belt tho, and I just got it as close as I can. Definitely sounds like you have the belt too tight. I follow the steps on vfaq, and I have a bent nose pair of pliers work good to tighten up the tensioner pulley.
 
I have had no probs using Gates on SOHC motors.
SOHC motors are a nothing to do and pretty flexible to do since the SOHC is just that - a motor's camset in a car to move the car down the road with no performance needed.

I think that GATES and DOHC setups just can't get along too well.

All the DOHC belts that I've done on all of the belt changes I've done on other motors, I've always headed to the dealer for the OEM belt.

-DSM
 
Hey DSM I'm going to try what you suggest. Oren I made my tensioner tool that works pretty good. Either way I have an OEM belt on the way. If I'm going to take everything apart again something is going to get fixed. Thanks for the help guys.
 
I know you guys were hanging on the edge waiting to find out what happened to the gap and the bad super charger whine.
First off I loosened the Gates balance shaft belt and reinstalled the old tensioner and that quieted down some. It was really noisy around the balance shaft area. The tensioner gap was on the money but when I checked it the next day. the arm was resting on the housing. As soon as you turn the crank just a little. The gap goes to where its suppose to be. This is some great stuff guys.
I finally got the OEM belts and put those babies on along with the new tensioner. I'm not worried about the gap any more. Apparently that's the way it works cause it did the same thing with a new tensioner. The super charger whine is gone. Its pretty much like normal. Like just before the belt decided to let go and bend every valve on the head and bust every guide with it.
One thing that was strange is it still makes a little noise right below the B/S. I checked it with an open ended stethoscope (open ended tube on the end). I checked every bearing with a regular mechanics stethoscope and everything is smooth. No bearing problems from what I can tell. I'm thinking that the noise is the small belt. I'm happy with it.:D
 
Another example of why we should use quality parts on our cars. If it had failed, man!
 
Tell me about it. The belt that was on it was not OEM but it was made by a company that manufactured OEM parts for cars blah blah blah blah. The Gates belt that was on it was not cheap. it was 130$ plus. It was just noisy.
 
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