I have a slightly puzzling question,for me it is anyway.
When the tensioner for the timing belt is renewed/refitted after a timing belt change why is the pivot nut and the tensioner
bolt tightened?Why are they not ever so slightly loose so as the tensioner actually applies constant pressure to the
timing belt?This I would have thought would negate the possibilty of the timing belt possibly jumping
the pulley teeth or even worse.
Forgive me as I'm not a mechanic and do not understand the workings of this setup fully,but I would have thought the idea
of said tensioner was to keep constant firm tension on the timing belt .
I say this because i'm currently in the process of renewing my Xantia diesel timing belt and relevant components,but i have
noticed after the removal of the timing belt covers that there was suprisingly some slack in the timing belt between the
camshaft pulley and the injection pump pulley(more than i think should be).This slightly alarmed me thinking I may have been
close to the scenario of belt jumping pulley teeth or worse with even more problems.
I checked the timing belt tensioner to discover that it was tightly done up probably as per instructions from the manual(s) and
probably doing its job,albeit, as far as I'm concerned, 90 percent of the time.I thought the tensioner's job would be to keep constant
pressure on the timing belt preventing the possibility of any undue slack in the belt ever appearing to the extent that it would
also obviously take up any future slack from the belt due to normal stretching.
As it stands at the moment,unless otherwise informed by your good selves,I would be thinking that I need to adjust the tensioner
every so many thousand of miles so as to ensure that the tensioner was taking up any possible slack from the belt.
I may also be tempted ,unless someone advises me to the contrary,to try and loosen off the pivot nut and tensioner bolt a fraction
so there is slight movement in the tensioner to keep applying constant pressure to the timing belt thus hopefuuly negating the possibility
of any undue slack ever making an appearance.I'm not sure though,whether this will bring on premature wear on the timing belt!
What would you say?What would you do?
Perhaps ,and only perhaps,this is why you hear of diesel timing being out and timing belts that have jumped teeth.Who knows???
Can someone,some kind knowledgeable soul enlighten me and put me right before I make a dreaded mistake.
I look forward to any replies.
Thanks for reading Steve
