Opinions on timing belt tensioners

[strtdrms]

Replaced my timing belt and related components in March of 2015. I remeber checking the timing belt mid July and it was good. Before putting the car away for the winter I noticed a weird slapping sound coming from the area. Turns out my timing belt is really loose. I'm not sure if I didn't torque it properly or if it's getting ready to fail. I'm getting ready to buy a new tensioner to install come spring time. Wanted to know what I should go with. I bought the timing belt kit from blauparts. I think it was an Ana tensioner that came with the kit.

[old guy]

Did you purchase the kit with the newer version Litens belt tensioner and bracket or do you have the piston/plunger type tensioner and pulley?

[strtdrms]

Newer litens belt tensioner.

[ADCS]

That tensioner is made in Canada so it can't be bad.

Did you line up the tabs properly? what did you torque the bolt to?

[old guy]

Newer litens belt tensioner.

Wow....Sorry to hear that. The Litens is what i was planning on using the next time I changed my timing belt/tensioner. It appears to be a much better arrangement than the piston/plunger type tensioner. I'm very interested to see what you find. Maybe it wasn't tightened up enough as ADCS questioned?

[strtdrms]

That's what I'm thinking. I followed the instructions with the kit and rotated the crank several times but who knows. I'll be sure to double check this time around. Just still undecided on what to go with

[diagnosticator]

That's what I'm thinking. I followed the instructions with the kit and rotated the crank several times but who knows. I'll be sure to double check this time around. Just still undecided on what to go with

You probably don't need a new tensioner, since the installed tensioner is most likely only loose. Retightening should be all that is needed.

[strtdrms]

You probably don't need a new tensioner, since the installed tensioner is most likely only loose. Retightening should be all that is needed.

I've considered this but I don't want to go through all of the labor just to do it again if it was the tensioner

[walky_talky20]

I'm pretty sure you can retension the Litens unit without doing hardly any disassembly. Just pop the top plastic cover off and you're there. I'm not sure if you can actually change the tensioner, but I'm pretty sure you can at least adjust it and retorque it.

[diagnosticator]

I've considered this but I don't want to go through all of the labor just to do it again if it was the tensioner

I recommend using the same Litens tensioner as is already installed, it is superior to the version used before.

[eljay]

Is the old tensioner really that bad? I just picked up a kit with NTN tensioner. I don't want to touch it for at least 60k miles.

[Toronto5.5]

Nah plenty of folks have been using standard tensioners for years. This Litens tensioner is relatively new to the market.

[manhertm]

Is the old tensioner really that bad? I just picked up a kit with NTN tensioner. I don't want to touch it for at least 60k miles.

The old tensioner seemed fine to me. Most people change it around 75K. I think the water pump is more prone to fail before the tensioner. My waterpump was crumbling when I last changed my belt. Maybe a combination of this new style tensioner, metal water pump and Kevlar belt can got twice as long? Who knows.

[jacobsen]

I"m using the NTN tensioner, I like that it takes up slack with the plunger. That nut that hold the tensioner or I think your case the pulley is a piece of crap, I replaced mine with a washer and grade 10.5 nut from menards and buttered the works with red loctite. The nut coming loose was responsible for taking out one of the our fellow 1.8 hipsters motor.

[tHatOne guY]

Are these Litens tensioners torqued to 23 Nm?