How do you KNow if you TENSIONER...

[td06hkiko]

How do you know if your tensioner is going bad? I did my timing belt change at 60k. Water Pump and Tensioner was never changed. Now I am at 90k and I hear vibration when I decelerate. I plan on changing the Timing belt, tensioner and water pump Soon. Could it be the Tensioner Vibrating.?????

 

[talon1979]

I have had a tensioner fail and it seemed to do it without any notice. When I had my timing belt changed they told me it looked fine and then boom 3k miles later it failed out of nowhere. After that experience I will always change my tensioner w/ my t-belt.

Can you give any more examples about the sound your car is making?

 

[Whitetal]

You can tell if you take it out. Look for some kind of oily fluid on it. When it goes bad, it starts to leak the hydraulic fluid. Also if you have the tensioner out, push on the tensioner pushrod with your finger. If you can push it in with lots of force, it's bad. You should not be able to push it in at all with your finger.

When my tensioner went bad, I took my tensioner out and saw oily fluid on it. I just thought oil got on it somehow so I wiped it off dry. After days of driving, I took everything out and the tensioner had oily fluid on it again. So I knew oil couldn't have gotten on it agin. It was leaking. I pressed on the pushrod and was able to push it in. I had another newer tensioner. I pushed down on it with full force and it wouldn't budge. When I did the timing belt installion, I was adjusting the pushrod and I saw it moving. I figure it will only move with lots of force and should not be able to move with human force.

 

[myblack98gst]

addition to above..

take the t-belt inspection cover off and pull up on the belt.. you can slightly see the tensioner pulley if you can make that moove at all or pulls alot of slack in the belt it is bad.. and that is VERY BAD.. I had one go out on me that allowed it to jump time and mess up a head pretty bad.

if you do replace it go with a NEW piece from mitsubishi. I first went with a rebuilt one from eagleautomotive.com and it has already went out with maybe 400 miles of use. I am replacing it with a mitsu. one tommorow. luckily I recognized the noise and stopped driving before bad things happened

on both occasions with mine it rattles from idle to around 4,500 rpms.. after 4,500 it smoothed out and got really quiet. it really sounds like a bad lifter if you in the car. but if you watced the belt it is bouncing between the cam gears when it is loud and when its quiet the belt is not bouncing at all..

 

[td06hkiko]

I looked for the Vibration. And all along it was My EXhaust hangers that was making the Vibes. I was about to freak out. Thanks for the Replys.