timing belt moves

[5spdFTW]

i heard a weird noise coming from under the hood of my car the other day. it turned out to be the timing belt. i also noticed the belt was moving back and forth across the gears about 1/8 of an inch or a bit more. after i drove to my friends house i popped the hood and the noise disappeared after the belt warmed up, which i had expected, but the belt still moved. i am concerned about this after already losing one car to a timing belt slipping and trashing the head. do u think the guide or tensioner pullies are worn out? or is this normal? i cringe every time i accelerate for fear of losing another engine to a timing belt.

before you tell me to do a search, i did and i found one thread about this but the movement of my timing belt seems to be more than what was described in that thread and i wasnt allowed to post in that section, so i opened my own thread in the noob section.

thanks all

 

[5spdFTW]

how many miles are on the belt, do u know ???you may be due for a new also it could be a belt tensioner

i have no idea how many are on the belt. the engine is not original to the car. the guy i bought the car off said the engine had about 100k on it, but im not sure if its the original belt ( i hope not ). i know you are supposed to change them every 60k miles. the belt has no visible wear on it.

Yea, sounds like belt stretch - the teeth isn't square with the sprockets when in motion and it "hunts" for the 'sweet spot' over the sprockets to run in balance.

I deal with machinery that run with toothed belts and I see, on occasion, this "belt wander oscillation" where I change out the belts to eliminate this problem.

can this oscillation cause it to slide off the gears?

are the guides/tensioners ok?

 

[DSM1G90]

are the guides/tensioners ok?

You can spin these rollers to hear bearing noise or if they spin loose. Either way, I'd do the full changeout (belt, adjuster, pullies..etc..) like a lot of us do on a belt changeout.

A wandering belt won't slip off as long as it's tight across the sprockets. A belt can show no visable wear, yet a belt can dry out to rock hard after age and this is where breakage comes into play. I did a DOHC belt changeout on a different make a few years ago - belt looked okey, but it was so dry that when I twisted it, it began to tear and I couldn't press in on the teeth with my fingernail due to the teeth were rock hard being dried out.

I'd do the safety margin of going 40k on our motors for changeout instead of 60k due to the belt travel across all of those rollers and sprockets. a SOHC can get away with that long of changeout due to the simple path the belt uses. But, a DOHC just has a more complicated path that the belt have to flex more to operate.

Good luck in your find and final decision on what you need to do. 4G63's are great motors, but you need to take care of them as well.

It'd be fun if we could drop in Mitz's new 4B11(t) motors in (what the new EVO's uses) - no belts, no balance sprockets, alum block with steel sleeves and just a timing chain that is horribly simple to change out. But, it's fun to dream once in a while.....

-DSM

 

[5spdFTW]

that evo engine is not fair... bastards and their money....

ill check to see the if the belt is dried, but i dont think i have the time or expirience to change out the timing belt and all the pullies, i have bad expiriences with belts.... but i also dont have the money to pay someone to do it...


i had a 1g ecplise that slipped a belt (didnt break the belt???) that trashed the head. had to cut my losses and sell the car. i dont want this to happen again to my 2g talon. but because of what happened to the 1g, i bought a 2nd talon 2g that had been wrecked. so if anything happens to my talon i got another to swap parts with. but i dont plan on swapping engines for a while, im keeping that shit till gasoline is obsolete.

 

[squeak104]

I seem to have developed something of the same problem. This is my first n/t car and some mornings when I go out to start it the belt rubs on the back of the cover at the top. It first did it this past weekend. I've had the car for 6 months now and its the first time this has happened. If I drive it for about 5 minutes it goes away. Is it time for a timing belt, tensioner, etc?

 

[dsmnightracer]

take it all apart and inspect all the pulleys and the lower timming belt gear.

 

[solidviper89]

something aint right... like dsmnightracer said, inspect lower cover...

 

[DSMified92]

i have a 92 1g and my timing belt does the same thing it moves bout a 1/8 inch side to side but its a new belt and my tensioner and pulleys are good....its not anything i would worry bout cause i give mine hell from time i pull out of the driveway til i pull bak in

 

[Colt4G63 also]

That shouldn't be walking all over the pulley like that. The crank sprocket has a washer/guide behind it that keeps the belt in place and centered on the pulley. You probably have a loose bearing on one of your tensioner or idler pulleys, or the guide has worn out, and/or your belt is about to ruin your day. If you can't afford to have the belt changed now, and you are unable to do it yourself, take my advice and ride the bus untill you do have the money. It isn't going to do anything but cost you MORE if you wait 'till it goes clank! (regardles of how apparently tempting that is to people)

Normally timing belts don't give any warning before destroying your head, but if they did, I would say that was your warning.

 

[5spdFTW]

I seem to have developed something of the same problem. This is my first n/t car and some mornings when I go out to start it the belt rubs on the back of the cover at the top. It first did it this past weekend. I've had the car for 6 months now and its the first time this has happened. If I drive it for about 5 minutes it goes away. Is it time for a timing belt, tensioner, etc?

STOP DRIVING YOUR CAR!!! with a rubbing belt you are doomed for for failure! i had a belt rubbing in my 1g eclipse and i thought nothing of it and was waiting till later to get it changed and the car died 2 days later... had to sell the car after driving it 3 days... lost $800 after the whole deal was done...

i have a 92 1g and my timing belt does the same thing it moves bout a 1/8 inch side to side but its a new belt and my tensioner and pulleys are good....its not anything i would worry bout cause i give mine hell from time i pull out of the driveway til i pull bak in

i have never looked at my belt while the car was ruinning so i dont know how long my car has been doing this. i generally baby my car till it warms up and even then i keep calm to save gas (30 city/37 hwy mpg). but you never know when the belt will fail, and beating up your car is just a way to make your luck run out faster!

That shouldn't be walking all over the pulley like that. The crank sprocket has a washer/guide behind it that keeps the belt in place and centered on the pulley. You probably have a loose bearing on one of your tensioner or idler pulleys, or the guide has worn out, and/or your belt is about to ruin your day. If you can't afford to have the belt changed now, and you are unable to do it yourself, take my advice and ride the bus untill you do have the money. It isn't going to do anything but cost you MORE if you wait 'till it goes clank! (regardles of how apparently tempting that is to people)

Normally timing belts don't give any warning before destroying your head, but if they did, I would say that was your warning.

thanks for the help, i know the belt doesnt give any warning... i learned that the hard way. i drive as little as possible and i baby the engine as much as i can. i will look into getting it changed within a month (less than 1k miles of driving ). right now my money is tied up elsewhere (crappy speeding ticket... didnt even know the speed limit and i was doin 45...) i havent been able to afford an oil change or tranny oil change and i needed both a LONG time ago....