Sab

My timing belt warning light is coming on again very frequent.
I checked the tension three times with the kempf tool and it checks fine.
All wires to the tensioner seem fine.
How can I check the tensioner itself?
Should I tighten the tensioner a quarter turn?
regards,
Sab.

Gretch

Have you bled the Tensioner?

Sab

No, I have not touched it.
How does that work? Can it be done without major disassembly?
If there is something wrong with the tensioner, am I at risk of loosing my belt?

athenian

Take it apart, inspect it and clean it before it's too late....

I'm doing a TB change this week (it's going slow for my first time) and I haven't gotten to taking the tensioner apart yet....That will next...I'm stuck at trying to take the damn crank pulley off (see other thread about that)...

All the best - VK

'91 928 S4 AT
'84 Euro S AT

Ed MD

I had this same senario happen to me, I checked the tension so often that I could do it in less than 25 minutes. I also set the tension tighter. Read the posts by Walley regarding filling the tensioner, but it probably shouldn't cause the timing light issues you describe. When I rebuilt the tensioner I found that the copper/brass spring which makes electrical contact between the plunger and the terminal on the casting was broken. I had helped doing the timing belt on a later model GT the week before and saw that that year used a wire to connect the terminal with the washer on the plunger. I bent the edges of the spring and inserted a 14 gauge wire and soldered the end. I suspect that the constant movement broke the metal spring. BTW when are you do for a tension belt change?
Thanks Ed M

88 S4 at,
85 S 5spd

Sab

I had the last timing belt change a bit more then a year ago and it was done by a shop. I was charged also for "R&R Tensioner".
So bleeding and filling the tensioner won't help any?
Can the tensioner be removed without doing the whole timing belt procedure?

Garth S

Surprisingly, sometimes bleeding the tensioner does help! - as Gretch has said. One of the jobs of the tensioner is to hydraucially dampen belt 'flutter': it cannot do that effectively on air !
Bleeding the tensioner is a 5 min job, requiring an oil squirt can, a piece of 1/4" plactic tube/hose, and a 7mm wrench: remove the rubber covers on the 2 bleed screws on the tensioner, loosen both screws, and slowly pump your favourite oil(engine or gear) into the left screw as you face the eng - continue until clear oil flows from the right, and button up! No other disassembly is req'd!
If this does not cure the issue, then there is a break likely in the ground loop as Ed details - the quick test is to open the tensioner wire connector on the front cover and test for ground continuity through the tensioner.

Sab

Great info, thanks. I will bleed the tensioner and I will post the results. That gives me some hope to resolve it without a major expense.

Cameron

Sab,

Get that done fast, so you aren't worried about the Sebring DE.

......Cameron
'91 Euro GT

Sab

Hopefully I get this resolved, since I don't want to be on the track with a t-belt warning light...

John Speake

Hi Sab,
It is (just) possible to remove the tensioner without taking the whole of the front off the engine. All the bolts are accessable outside the covers. You have to get to the small screw that holds the spring onto the arm at the top, this is a fiddle and can be dropped into the works...............

Iit is tricky to get the tensioner with its gasket into place , plus the plunger located properly into the arm. But it can be done.

Try the oil bleed first. After, if you get oli leaking down at the bottom of the timing cover, then the boot is split, or the gasket between the tensioner and the block is leaking.

With the Kempf gauge, a 32v is usually tensioned towards the tight side of the window.

moon928

My waring light came on 3 times today. The duration between warings became shorter and shorter as I was trying to make it home. Each time I pulled over and turned the car off and restared it. No light. I guess I lucked out when the last warning came on I was 200 yards from a Porsche dealership. That was enough warning for me for one day.

I really want to do this on my own but the thought of driving the car and losing the belt didnt seem worth it to me.

SharkSkin

IIRC there is a 3 minute delay between starting the car and having the warning light come on... maybe all you were doing is resetting that timer, and the 3 minutes seemed shorter each time?