Hydraulic or solid timing tensioner

[enriquez2000]

Oponions are all over the place.. which would you use and why..

Im a daily driver with a bit of extra power not a track car.

 

[pauleyman]

Hydraulic

 

[enriquez2000]

Hydraulic

Leaning that way.. but your reason please

 

[AlwaysSunnyOhio]

They say that the solid ones have to checked on a regular basis. from what I read they vibrate loose so I went hydraulic.

 

[pauleyman]

Because it was designed that way. Until somebody shows me why a solid tensioner wss even built or what problem it is trying to solve I run hydraulic. Dont fix what isnt broken.

 

[enriquez2000]

Just have some local dsm guys trying to sell me on the idea. Doing head work and they say sonce its the same cost as a hydraulic to get one. Im not even sure i want to do timing components since they were done 20k ago.. but if the head comes off it makes sense i guess

 

[91-GS]

Go ahead and replace the timing parts. Do use a hydraulic tensioner, it's less of a hassle (as mentioned above). It is a good idea to replace the belt and tensioner about once a year.

 

[pauleyman]

It comes down to labor then. I no longer follow the 60k rule. It's a personal choice. If somebody can offer me objective results on why they run a manual tensioner I will look into it. As stated before. What problem does it solv

 

[pauleyman]

If you guys replace once a year you're driving alot miles.

 

[enriquez2000]

Pauley... would you your belt at 20ķ or reuse?

 

[91-GS]

Some claim that a solid tensioner is more reliable since there is no fluid to leak out as well as it allows user to set their preferred belt tension.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Factory is simple 100 bucks and have some peace for 60000 miles.

 

[pauleyman]

I probably would because im lazy, not because I dont trust a 20k belt.

 

[donniekak]

A solid tensioner will have the belt to tight when at operating temp, or to low on cold startup.

Timing belts don't stretch, and as the block and head heat up, the distance from the crank pulley to the cam gears increases. The stock tensioner keeps the belt tension correct under all circumstances.

On another forum a member posted a video of how much the tensioner moves as the engine warms up. It's a lot.

 

[pauleyman]

I replace tensioners when I replace belts and in 23 years and 300k miles ive never seen one leak. There is not a reliability problem in my opinion.

 

[GST with PSI]

pauleyman has basically summed it up in his posts. There's really no reason to use a manual tensioner.

Here's a great article with technical data on the topic: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...KW1u_zoXCJtetU41Q&sig2=OhfVlFZKLsts03yl5Avy7g

 

[donniekak]

Here is that video.

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[buhay6]

The last 2 tensioners ive bought seep but 2 years later its still fine.

 

[ForcePower]

Oponions are all over the place.. which would you use and why..

Im a daily driver with a bit of extra power not a track car.

If as you said it's a daily driver, use the stock hydrolic tensioner. No real reason for anything else.
With that said, we have used a solid tensioner along with a high quality belt for years now with no issue. But it's on a car that see's a lot of stress at high loads. The reason for running a solid tensioner is simple, you are eliminating another weak link. I have seen several cars over the years destroy the motor because the stock tensioner failed and I've also seen brand new tensioners fail on track cars.
The constant adjustment of solid tensioners is a myth. Once you know how to set them up they are good, I haven't had to change the tension on our car for several years now.

 

[GST with PSI]

The last 2 tensioners ive bought seep but 2 years later its still fine.

I think people commonly misconstrue oil leaks with the tensioner leaking. I'm not saying this is what's happening in your case, but I would absolutely change any tensioner I suspected was seeping.

I believe what commonly happens is oil from various places leaks onto the tensioner, and people take that as the tensioner leaking. If the tensioner were leaking, it would provide almost no dampening effect to belt movement, just as a blown strut allows your car to bounce around like hoopty. A leaking tensioner is a bad tensioner, and should be changed if found in this condition.

 

[buhay6]

I think people commonly misconstrue oil leaks with the tensioner leaking. I'm not saying this is what's happening in your case, but I would absolutely change any tensioner I suspected was seeping.

I believe what commonly happens is oil from various places leaks onto the tensioner, and people take that as the tensioner leaking. If the tensioner were leaking, it would provide almost no dampening effect to belt movement, just as a blown strut allows your car to bounce around like hoopty. A leaking tensioner is a bad tensioner, and should be changed if found in this condition.

I know mines seeping for sure i didnt even have them installed yet haha. Plus the only oil leak anywhere on my car is a slight seep from the vc on the opposite side of the engine.
Both teaioners i bought were new both oem in mitsu packaging.

 

[GST with PSI]

Keep in mind as well, you'll probably see a bit of oil on the tensioner rod. Although, it should be fairly easy to tell residual oil from a leaking tensioner.

Sounds like you have some tensioners you need to return, though