First, thanks for a great forum. I've already gleaned some valuable advice just from reading previous posts.
Last spring I had to replace the timing belt and timing belt tensioner on my 96' ford contour. It started off as a whistling noise when the engine was cold. This evolved into more of a grating noise accompanied with a taping on the timing belt cover. When I tore into the thing I discovered the timing belt tensioner was just barely functioning. The plastic pulley was cracked and the bearings were obviously shot.
Side note: I ruined the threads on the crankshaft trying to use a gear puller on the crank shaft pulley. It was just the entrance threads so I tried to force the bolt back in thinking that if I could get it started I would clean the threads up.
Well, this just resulted in ruining the threads on the bolt. I had to go buy a tap and re-tap the threads on the crankshaft. The new bolt is a little loose with the re-tapped threads, but I don't even want to think about replacing the crankshaft. I put a little silicone sealer on the back end of the bolt and tightened it down as much as I felt comfortable without stripping the threads out of the crankshaft. I marked the bolt and crankshaft pulley with a little paint and I check it every time I change the oil to make sure it hasn't slipped.
Beside the problems with the crankshaft pulley and bolt everything went pretty well. Found TDC, made sure the cams were lined up using the flat bar, put the new belt on. I was a little nervous about the timing belt tension. I loosened the timing belt tensioner bolt and let the spring pull tension on the belt. I then tightened it down a little and turned the crankshaft a few times. The belt seemed to have too much slack, and the slack region seemed to move as I turned the crank. I decided to just push the tensioner as taught as I could with my hand and tighten it down. Put everything back together and it seemed to run fine.
To get to the point - Things were fine for a few months. When it started to get cold outside I started noticing the tapping again on the timing belt cover. I thought maybe the tensioner bolt had come loose so I opened it back. Tensioner is still in place so I'm not sure why it is now loose. Does the timing belt stretch over the first couple months?
Anyway, after reading through a few posts on the board I think I am going to redo the timing and tension, but this time I'm going to loosen the cam bolts to let the sprockets turn freely while I adjust the tension. It is either this or really pry on the tensioner to put as much tension as I can on the belt. (Bad idea right?) Any thoughts? You think adjusting the tension with loosened cam sprockets might prevent it from loosening up again?
