Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Timing Belt Tensioner Torque????

A few of you might recall all my posts way back in August when I replaced the timing belt tensioner and all the associated stuff on my '95 GL. It has a 2.0L Zetec.

After FINALLY diagnosing my ignition problem that ended up being a bad coil pack and after figuring out that the bad coilpack was cuasing the plugs to break... well, the car has run pretty decently until recently.

I noticed that the timing belt was starting to slap against the plastic cover from about the time I finished the install. It got steadily worse until yesterday when it sounded like the engine was coming apart! Once the engine was above about 2K rpms the noise stopped. The idle was also horrible although it ran fine above 2K rpms.

This morning I pulled the covers off and discovered that the tensioner had slipped back to the point that the belt was almost as slack as it could be and still stay on the pulleys!
I re-positioned everything and torqued down the bolt on the tensioner and it is quiet now.

My question is this:

The Haynes Manual says the bolt on the tensioner should be torqued down to 23 to 30 ft. lbs.
That seems mighty loose to me!
The text reads like the spring pulls the tensioner tight keeping the belt tight, but it doesn't! In fact, the engine was manufactured without a spring on the tensioner.
So, obviously the bolt keeps it in place.

Does anyone know the corrct way to tighten/ position the tensioner?
I have it where it is perfect quiet now, but I am afraid that it will slip again!

DB

Ya know, I found out autozone's Website normally has them kind of specs

the spring is used on a 95 to tension the pullie then the bolt holds it in place. The spring is only used to tension and is not left installed. I figure the factor had a setup to tension the belt, that used the pin and the spring. The tensioner is bolted down and is suppose to hold the tension of the belt. When the belt streches it hits the cover. I replaced my timing belt at 104K and at 121K it is not making any noise

It isn't rattling anymore, but it has a rough idle now!!!!

It runs fine at speeds above an idle and drives fine.
It seems to be either running rich or not burning the fuel completely because of the smell.
I am wondering if pulling the tensioner too tight could mess with the intake camshaft position enough to cause this.
The computer is supposed to be able to adjust the timing enough to compensate for this.
It didn't turn the camshaft pully much at all!

Something is amiss becuase the revs are high when it first cranks and then it backs down.

I'd still rather have it not rattle than have a rough idle!

DB

Oh yeah! Trust me... I popped for that expensive spring and stud at the Ford house. I left it installed, too! The Haynes manual DOESN'T tell you too remove it. Plus it ain't going anywhere! If it was it would have come off during the 6K miles I have put on the engine since I installed it!

I only pushed the tensioner tight with my fingers.
It's not like I torqued it over with a tool.
It isn't much further over than it was when I first installed it.
I just didn't torque down the bolt very hard when I put in the stuff last August and it slipped.

You can't leave it too loose or it will work it's way back like mine did!
In other words, it can't be loose enough to move or it will do what mine just did and get all floppy and noisy.

I know a source at a Ford dealership that will know.
I was holding off calling him (reserving those calls for importatt stuff.)

DB

Dbbubba,
You say your engine runs poor at idle but better at higher revs. I helped a friend who this exact same symptom on an Integra (DOHC cam engine like yours) after he changed the timing belt. The belt was off by exactly one tooth on one cam only. This was due to a difference of interpretation of the timing directions.

Maybe your belt slipped a tooth when your tensioner was loose. I would be willing to bet that this is it since the engine ran fine right after the belt replacement (ignoring the coil pack)

Does "repositioned everything" mean you put everything back at TDC before fixing the tensioner?

And yes, it's ok to remove or leave the spring after timing.

Timing is a b*tch, I did it, and i think its messed up, im thinking of hading that done professionally. then i can sue if they mess up rather than if I mess up

I DID NOT remove the valve cover and do the cam alignment procedure when I re-posistioned the tensioner this last time. I may have to because the belt could have slipped.
It ran fine before even though the belt was slapping (not slipping) a little bit at first. At about 7K miles after installing the new belt and tensioner the tensioner slipped and the belt got loose.

I guess I need to pop the valve cover and check it all.

The CEL is not coming on.
That's good!

DB