Can someone shed some info on this Tensioner pulley for me?

**Accordngs** · 06-02-2008 11:48 AM

Hey guys,

In my quest to solve why my car is so friggin loud when idling I noticed something.

The spring loaded tensioner pulley for the drive belt seems to be moving quite a bit.

My question is:

Is the pulley supposed to be moving a lot? I always thought tensioner pulleys stay tight instead of bounce around.

Here is a picture I stole from the timing belt write up (thx yoogene) to illustrate which pulley I am referring to.

It is the part that yoogene has used his awesome paint skills to make the yellow wrench on :)

If you don't have your entire front end removed..I think its the only tensioner you can see if you look straight down at the belts.

**AudiA4_20T** · 06-02-2008 03:47 PM

should be tight

**CO AVANT** · 06-02-2008 04:13 PM

The tensioner will vibrate and "bounce" around a tad when in motion. The belt itself should be tight with only +/- ~1/8" give if you yank on it.

**Accordngs** · 06-02-2008 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by CO AVANT

The tensioner will vibrate and "bounce" around a tad when in motion. The belt itself should be tight with only +/- ~1/8" give if you yank on it.

hmmm. maybe there is nothing wrong with it then.

the tension of the belt doesn't seem too bad. I just wasn't sure about the movement on that pulley.

Guess I'll have to continue my mission to figure out this friggin noise.

**05UltraSprt** · 06-02-2008 07:16 PM

My tensioner was loud as hell, bouncing all over the place when I first started the car after the timing belt change. I thought it was from the ECS Crank. As it turned out, it was because the PS fluid was stll low (I removed the PS cooler to do the job). Once I refilled the power steering system and got rid of all the foam, it settled down.

So in short - Check PS fluid.

**Accordngs** · 06-02-2008 08:05 PM

Originally Posted by 05UltraSprt

My tensioner was loud as hell, bouncing all over the place when I first started the car after the timing belt change. I thought it was from the ECS Crank. As it turned out, it was because the PS fluid was stll low (I removed the PS cooler to do the job). Once I refilled the power steering system and got rid of all the foam, it settled down.

So in short - Check PS fluid.

I just topped it off a few months ago, but good idea to double check again. thx

**CO AVANT** · 06-03-2008 01:18 PM

what DV do you have? looks like a forge 007. If it is a piston style DV I would change the orientation of it while the front end is off. Side opposite of the vac line should go to the IC piping. This is opposite of oem but should work better.

**Accordngs** · 06-03-2008 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by CO AVANT

what DV do you have? looks like a forge 007. If it is a piston style DV I would change the orientation of it while the front end is off. Side opposite of the vac line should go to the IC piping. This is opposite of oem but should work better.

That is not an actual pic of my motor. My motor is completely stock.

That pic was borrowed for explanation purposes from Yoogene's timing belt write-up.