timing belt woes :(

[mattman]

seeing as i just bought my fto with about 210 000 km on it thought id check out the timing belt and im lucky i did. the timing belt at the top where it goes under the the idler pulley is loose i mean the belt has tension every where but where it loops under the idler pulley its loose you can freely spin the pulley as the belt just touches it. now there is no point retightening the belt soo looks like a new timing belt kit is needed which ill get my mechanic to do as there is bugger all room and quad cams are a bitch to line up at times. any one else had this prob?

[dstocks]

The hydraulic tensioner is probably gone. They are supposed to change it when the belt is done,but quite often they dont.

[mattman]

oh ok ill get my mechanic to check that when he does it was just strange to me that it was tight every where besides where is goes under the idler pulley at the top

thanks for the info appreciate it

[mattman]

is there any diy or threads on doing the timing belt your self as my mechanic is not free for a few weeks so i might give it a try myself ive done timing belts before but never a quad cam

[vipfto]

piss easy there is somewhere have a search just be sure to hand crank a few times to make sure all lines up and I always find it usefull to use bulldog clips to hold belt on cams as they spring back easily due to tension on them, also do water pump and seals if leaking and new tensioners etc

[mattman]

cheers yep ill be changing all seals pullys water pump one funny thing i drove the car into the garage to get startd on the job and the timing belt is now tight?????? confused

[vipfto]

Hmm sounds like tensioner moving would change asap due for it anyway so at least its not all bad

[mattman]

just seems strange how the belt was only loose where it goes under the idler pulley in-between the heads every where else was tight even where the tensioner is and now every where tight again

[dstocks]

Well,just as a comparison, my white Aero was the same when it came into the country. Belt sort of loose, but hadnt skipped any teeth. Ended up finding out that whoever had last serviced it had put on a new tensioner and forgot to remove the pin. Was bloody lucky....

[mattman]

ether way im doing the full timing belt service on it but if it can hold out till jan it would be a lot better for me as i need the car. ill go take all the covers off and check everthing is tight and the pin has been pulled hope its all good ill report back