1G Hydraulic tensioner

[talonlan3]

Car has been sitting two weeks due to fixing an oil leak. Noticed my tensioner arm is touching the hydraulic tensioner housing. I have only put like 200 miles on this tensioner. Could it be bad already?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[Mello]

Could be bad or the timing belt job was done incorrectly. What brand is the tensioner? Is this OEM?

 

[AWD-Tony]

Tensioner tool isn’t installed is it?

 

[ThunderChild]

I had my first oem oem tensioner die on me within the first 3 months. Found it after doing the second head stud tq and the belt was super slack, it was leaking all the oil out around the shaft. I was pretty anal in my timing belt setup so I was pretty upset. My second one is still good, I'm doing some leak fixing and cleaning, going to reuse it.

It's kind of a crapshoot it seems these days, OEM or aftermarket. Buddies car I out together we used a gates tensioner and it's been good from day one, has about 20k on it, just a bit less than my own setup.

 

[motomattx]

I use the Gates dampeners sometimes.

 

[talonlan3]

It is a gates tensioner off of rock auto.
I was pretty meticulous about doing my timing job as well as getting that grenade pin just right.
I followed vfaq on measuring gap as well.
Is there something that might cause premature failure?

 

[pauleyman]

I'm going to say tension wasn't set right.

 

[motomattx]

Maybe the dampener is fine but there is way too much pre tension on the belt, you will need to relieve it to check it out.

 

[1GAWD87]

Be careful re using that tensioner thinder child. Op check timing again, then determine if it's jun . Oem is around 100$ on stm

 

[luv2rallye]

I have only put like 200 miles on this tensioner. Could it be bad already?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Only if you used a poor aftermarket one or you compressed it too quickly (to put the granade pin in) and blew its internal seals (usually see oil on the top then). It's more likely it wasn't tensioned properly.

 

[curt-s]

doesnt take much to compress it if tension isnt set right.
for fun, give the engine a half rotation by hand and see how it sits again.

 

[talonlan3]

Maybe the dampener is fine but there is way too much pre tension on the belt, you will need to relieve it to check it out.

I see what you're saying. I am going to turn the motor a bit and see if any tension is released off of it.
I did compress the tensioner slowly in a vise when I installed it. No oil leaked out at the time.
If that doesn't work I am going to pull and replace it with oem.

 

[steve]

Crank it over by hand and check it again. If it's not at the spec retension it. If it doesn't stay in spec after 15 mins, replace it.

Overnight, the natural pressure from the tension on the belt can compress the pin into the tensioner so check after distributing the loads by cranking it by hand.

 

[talonlan3]

Rotated the motor a bit and hydraulic tension rod pushed back up
Thanks for all the information.

 

[luv2rallye]

Ok but even so, the tensioner should never collapse (pin down so far that the tensioner arm rests on the tensioner housing) when the engine is sitting off no matter how long it sits. If it does, it's internal seals are weak/leaking and it needs to be replaced. Better than risking your belt breaking or coming off the spockets and destroying your engine.

 

[TerminalTalon]

Replace it. You are going to cost yourself a lot more in the long run.

 

[pauleyman]

Replace it

 

[TerminalTalon]

There should be a decent amount of resistance to the piston going back in to set the pin.