Timing Issues

[Z32man]

Alright so I'm having issues with my auto-tensioner. I have all of the timing marks set. I compress the tensioner, push it agains the belt, tighten bolts to 15 ft lbs, decompress the tensioner. I measure the rod and its exactly 4mm, which it should be. Then I rotate the timing belt 720 degrees and I measure again it its out to 6mm. Is that a sign of a bad tensioner? I have repeated the process a few times and get the same thing every time. Am I doing something wrong?

Also, when I rotated the belt, the belt would always move to the back of the sprockets, very close to the backing plates. I have all of the idler pulleys torqued down to spec. Whats going on here?

[t.mcginley.jr]

Take the tensioner off, put it in a vice or C-clamp and compress it til there's only like 1 or 2mm of the piston showing. Put in the stopper bolt. Bolt the tensioner back on loosely, push it against the belt, tighten up the bolts and remove the stopper bolt. Rotate it like you did and check it again. Allowable is 3.5-5.2mm, but 4mm is like perfect.

Also, the reason your belt has movement front to back is because you don't have these on:



When everything is bolted on (like the crank pulley/balancer), these spacers keep the timing belt from moving front to back. You can't do the timing belt with the crank pulley on so expect it to move some.

[Z32man]

Thats exactly what I have been doing. Is it supposed to stay at 4mm or is it supposed to move out like it did? Also, I do not have the crank pulley in so I only have the one washer behind the cranks sprocket in. Is that what your saying why its moving?

[t.mcginley.jr]

Normally when you first put the tensioner on (after compressing it and with stopper bolt in), the gap is less than 4mm. Then when you rotate it like the FSM tells you to, it should move out some, but not past 5.2mm. Really there's no reason it should go too far past 4mm if the tensioner is good. Is yours new or used?

As for why its moving, yes its normal for it to move when the crank pulley isn't on. Once you put it all back together with the washers on either side of the sprocket it will stay lined up.