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
