Hey, thanks to everyone who spoke up in reply to my previous motor question (about which brands of timing belt are trustworthy).

I'm going to go ahead and put a Honda factory belt on this engine (94 Accord DX 2.2, 88K miles). If it fails early, I figure that would give me the leverage to muscle some goodwill repairs out of Honda North America. We have a lot of Honda products in our extended family and they presumably would want to keep us happy -- an aftermarket belt vendor would just tell me to get lost.

Making the parts list here for the rest of the job. I've got water pump (naturally), cam and crank and balance shaft seals, maybe an oil pump (gonna inspect while I'm inside, why not). The motor has had the seal retainer recall done already.

I'm not sure about how to handle the timing belt tensioner and balance shaft belt tensioner. Two new GMB tensioners cost about sixty bucks by Net order.

On the one hand, it's not a huge amount of money. And I would really like to have zero reasons to have to unbutton this Accord before the next belt service interval. It's been a beautifully reliable ride. And I've heard stories of belt tensioner bearings failing and driving people crazy with noise.

Also, I suppose that if the T/B tensioner really failed hard and froze up, it might cause the engine to skip timing or lose a belt tooth. Ouch! Balance belt tensioner would be a nonfatal failure.

But I have also heard of people racking up two or three belt changes on the stock tensioners with no problem. It's a real waste to just go and replace viable parts for no reason.

Haynes book doesn't reference anything about routine tensioner replacement. It talks *only* about inspect-and-replace-as-needed, and that only with respect to the balance belt.

My bud with the factory svc manual is out of town, so I can't use it to crosscheck Haynes. Rats.

I saw that timing belt tensioner springs are on the parts list (no comparable part for the balance shaft belt tensioner). Guess that some mechs will just inspect the bearings, and put in a new spring, and scoot.

Any clues people can throw my way would be great. My previous experience with Honda tensioners is with the wet chain tensioners used on their bikes, which isn't really very relevant to dry belt engines. I don't even know if the belt tensioners on the cars have any lubrication requirement!

Chris

 

well if the tensioner is not too expensive I would say go ahead and do it, it will cause a major problem if it breaks, however, when the tensioner starts to go there will at least be a warning before hand unlike the timing belt. You would hear a loud GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR on deceleration........... how much does a timing belt tensioner cost?

 

The timing belt tensioner is a smooth faced cylinder that presses against the backside of the belt. You would probably just cause a lot of belt wear if it failed... though obviously if you didn't realize what was wrong or didn't correct it the belt would fail eventually.

I'm staying out of this, as some people advocate changing the tensioners with each belt and others place it into a 'change as needed' catagory.

 

If the tensioner goes out, your timing belt will become loose and start rubbing on either the valvecover or timing cover. Happened on my friend's GSR.

 

What went on the tensioner??? just the spring???

 

Yeah the spring was hosed, so the tensioner wouldn't keep proper tension on the belt.

 

did you just replace the spring or the whole assembly??? I am just curious
thanks

 

We replaced the whole assembly while we were in there.

 

cool, thanks. i just replaced my water pump and t/b and was thinking about changing my tensioner assembly too. But changing the water pump and t/b fixed the squeaking i was trying to fix

thanks

 

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'll post with what I find once inside of the belt cover, when I can visually check the tensioner.

Right now the real challenge is the pulley bolt. I've been hitting it hard for minutes on end with a 250 ft-lb impact gun and the bolt is just laughing evilly at the gun. Even after a really good penetrating oil overnight, this wrench is simply undertorqued for the bolt job.

Time to go find a shop with a BIG compressor and a gun rated to 400. If that won't do it, well, time to sell the car quickly :-)