Technical Head Gasket/Cam help needed.

[Haggis23]

Spacers? The tensioner was just a one piece unit that came off the car as I had planned to reuse it with the belt as the cars only done a few thousand miles since replacement. I did try my circlip pliers but they didn’t allow the socket to go on and kept slipping out of the holes.
Is the general consensus that belt and tensioner should always be changed? Even with low mileage?

Thanks

 

[bugsymike]

Spacers? The tensioner was just a one piece unit that came off the car as I had planned to reuse it with the belt as the cars only done a few thousand miles since replacement. I did try my circlip pliers but they didn’t allow the socket to go on and kept slipping out of the holes.
Is the general consensus that belt and tensioner should always be changed? Even with low mileage?

Thanks

I can understand the reluctance to replace a fairly new part, but something is wrong if trying to torque a nut to 25 Nm is resulting in all this grief.
No disrespect, but if the tensioner is undamaged and correctly located against the engine block, so when turned in the correct direction according to the guide manual to the correct belt tension then the 25Nm torque should be no problem when holding the tensioner simply using a pair of right angled circlip pliers. Are you happy the torque wrench is accurate? Maybe recheck the tensioner operation as something is not normal.
Just to clarify when I say spacers, on some vehicle tensioners a flat washer is against the block then the tensioner held in place with a locking washer and nut. It is quite possible yours only uses the locking washer and nut on the outside.
By the way on some vehicles the back of the tensioner is held in a position by a locking tab part of the tensioner in a locating hole in the engine block although yours may not.

 

[Haggis23]

I'm not sure about the tensioner, but the belt is a 'one time' product; the tensioning process won't work correctly with a used belt.

I can understand the reluctance to replace a fairly new part, but something is wrong if trying to torque a nut to 25 Nm is resulting in all this grief.
No disrespect, but if the tensioner is undamaged and correctly located against the engine block, so when turned in the correct direction according to the guide manual to the correct belt tension then the 25Nm torque should be no problem when holding the tensioner simply using a pair of right angled circlip pliers. Are you happy the torque wrench is accurate? Maybe recheck the tensioner operation as something is not normal.

Yeah, I’m coming to the same conclusion, thought I might be doing something wrong,
it doesn’t help having a bad quality tool that snapped so easily. I’ll get a new one tomorrow.

Thanks for helping.

 

[bugsymike]

Yeah, I’m coming to the same conclusion, thought I might be doing something wrong,
it doesn’t help having a bad quality tool that snapped so easily. I’ll get a new one tomorrow.

Thanks for helping.

Maybe take the tensioner off and check the way it operates to see better, it could be faulty , but it is not unknown for even experienced mechanics to do something not quite right.
If you have done all that other work on the engine then I am sure with a close inspection you will sort it out.

 

[Haggis23]

I'm not sure about the tensioner, but the belt is a 'one time' product; the tensioning process won't work correctly with a used belt.

Yeah, it’s all coming off, I’ll have to get an ECP new belt & tensioner tomorrow and make a new tool, that’ll keep me busy.

Thanks

 

[Haggis23]

I'm not sure about the tensioner, but the belt is a 'one time' product; the tensioning process won't work correctly with a used belt.

Well it worked! New tensioner and belt did the trick, unfortunately I lost one thread on the Engine mount but I figured there are three others! But thanks for all your help, no fault codes, no leaks so far. Starts first time now, runs so much better without water in the cylinders.
Hag

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Well it worked! New tensioner and belt did the trick, unfortunately I lost one thread on the Engine mount but I figured there are three others! But thanks for all your help, no fault codes, no leaks so far. Starts first time now, runs so much better without water in the cylinders.
Hag

Did you spot an obvious reason as to why you were having the problem tightening the tensioner?

 

[Haggis23]

It's been a few weeks now and I can report that the car starts first time, every time. If you are having starting problems that you can't diagnose and are losing water from nowhere obvious, then buy a cheap endoscope, remove spark plugs and check for wet cylinders. Good luck.

Next project will be rear axle/subframe thing as mine looks like it's part of an old shipwreck, never seen so much rust on anything.

Pugglt: couldn't find any obvious reason it wouldn't tighten, new one sorted it though.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Hag

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

It's been a few weeks now and I can report that the car starts first time, every time. If you are having starting problems that you can't diagnose and are losing water from nowhere obvious, then buy a cheap endoscope, remove spark plugs and check for wet cylinders. Good luck.

Next project will be rear axle/subframe thing as mine looks like it's part of an old shipwreck, never seen so much rust on anything.

Pugglt: couldn't find any obvious reason it wouldn't tighten, new one sorted it though.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Hag

Thanks Haggis. Aye, the rear axle/subframe rust can be spectacular. I was really surprised Becky passed her MOT this year and had hardly stopped celebrating when she snapped a front road spring just the day before we set off for Devon! She's been licking her wounds in the driveway whilst we've been away and I'm now trying to decide whether to do a couple of front springs on her myself or ask Kenny what he might charge to do it for me. That sounds a bit strange doesn't it, but I lent my spring compressors to a chap I thought I knew quite well about a year ago and he didn't return them. He seems to have moved and I don't have any way to contact him so, if I'm going to do them myself, I'll need to borrow some (which I don't like doing - never a borrower nor a lender be) or buy new ones. It'll depend on what he quotes me and how lazy I'm feeling. Also, a consideration at my age, is how many more spring I might actually have to do? Maybe none?

Addressing you as "Haggis" takes me back. I was educated, senior school anyway, in English/Welsh schools and was nicknamed Haggis for years! By the way, many congratulations on using the "L" in Pugglt. Many on here seem to think I'm Puggit, which, of course, doesn't translate into anything!

 

[bugsymike]

Thanks Haggis. Aye, the rear axle/subframe rust can be spectacular. I was really surprised Becky passed her MOT this year and had hardly stopped celebrating when she snapped a front road spring just the day before we set off for Devon! She's been licking her wounds in the driveway whilst we've been away and I'm now trying to decide whether to do a couple of front springs on her myself or ask Kenny what he might charge to do it for me. That sounds a bit strange doesn't it, but I lent my spring compressors to a chap I thought I knew quite well about a year ago and he didn't return them. He seems to have moved and I don't have any way to contact him so, if I'm going to do them myself, I'll need to borrow some (which I don't like doing - never a borrower nor a lender be) or buy new ones. It'll depend on what he quotes me and how lazy I'm feeling. Also, a consideration at my age, is how many more spring I might actually have to do? Maybe none?

Addressing you as "Haggis" takes me back. I was educated, senior school anyway, in English/Welsh schools and was nicknamed Haggis for years! By the way, many congratulations on using the "L" in Pugglt. Many on here seem to think I'm Puggit, which, of course, doesn't translate into anything!

Nice of the "borrower".
I am lucky I have a selection of manual spring compressors and also a foot operated hydraulic one, it sits for ages in the garage taking up space and then suddenly really useful like many obscure tools.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Nice of the "borrower".
I am lucky I have a selection of manual spring compressors and also a foot operated hydraulic one, it sits for ages in the garage taking up space and then suddenly really useful like many obscure tools.

It's exactly that sort of tool if you own one for your own use - different in the workshop because doing road springs is a really common job these days. I was lucky enough to be able to make my own when I was a trainer using the workshop facilities and with the help of the welding instructor. Which makes their loss all the more poignant. I very much doubt that he deliberately stole them, just forgot to return them. Who knows where they are now though. They were extra long to cope with the exceptionally long - when extended - front springs on my Renault 20. They lived most of their life on my "obscure tool" pegboard but when you need them, you really need them!