vg30e timing belt tensioner

[heavymetalrails]

I am replacing head gaskets on my 93 nissan quest and noticed that the timing belt tension pilly is hard to turn. Is this ok. I loosened the bolt and when I used a allen wrench to move it out of the way to get the belt off it was verry hard to turn with the allen wrench and when I removed the allen it stuck there without tighting the bolt.one more thing do I have to replace the head bolts and shave the heads?Thanks for the time-Bruce

[mtcookson]

Is the outer part of the tensioner difficult to spin or just the whole thing? If its the whole thing it may not be an issue but if its the bearing that's bad I would definitely replace it. It probably wouldn't hurt to replace it anyway since you're in there but, since the Quest's VG is non-interference, you at least won't suffer any major damage in the event that the timing belt breaks.

You can get the heads checked for flatness. If they're out of spec then I would definitely get them shaved but if they within spec I wouldn't bother.

As for the head bolts, they say you should always replace them due to stretch but I think most have found that you can at least use them over once without any issues. Just be sure to the chase the threads in the block and lube the bolt threads appropriately before torquing them down and be sure to follow the torquing procedure fully.