H2

I'm so freakin' paranoid (and happier that way) that I carry a scad-load of basic tools and a belt tension gauge around with me. If the belt warning light goes on, I stop (no matter where), take off the passenger side T-belt cover, and check the tension, and peer inside with a flashlight as best I can before proceeding. Only did this once and it was after someone else had messed with the belt and it was belt loosening. I've had the front off enough now that I've fooled myself into thinking that I pretty well can tell what might be wrong and can do it pretty quickly. BTW, I also carry a rabbit's foot but it does me no more good than it did the rabbit from whence it came.

So what do I do? I go buy another blankety interferance car...Audi TT. You'd think I'd learn. I was afraid to call Heinrich before I bought 'cause I knew he'd have talked me out of this other German tart. But I'm still in the market for an additional 928. Am I sick? Yes! But it's a nice kind of sickness....Bwaaawhhhhhhhh!

Harvey

docmirror

Spit For Brains,,,Ballast: A load or weight which brings the craft into static Center Gravity limits. (alt; the twit who sits up front and pushes the trigger when I line up a target.) Piloted from the rear seat, with no ammo on board, the early AH-1 was a bit aft CG with no gunner in front. We have other names, but it's a family forum.

Gretch

Well Doc.....interesting story, not as funny as FUBAR or BOHICA, but interesting non-the-less....Does sound like his suggestion to fly on a blown tranny was above his pay grade though.....

UKKid35

I did the same, tension warning light, so I had a shop adjust the belt tension. No more warning lights, but sure enough six months later the belt fails. The shop probably adjusted the tension correctly, but didn't check the condition of the tensioner, which was not holding oil and therefore would have run the belt tight when the engine was hot. This caused sprocket wear and ultimately belt failure.

Belt tension is rarely just a belt tension issuse, find the root cause or it will let you know in a dramatic fashion.

Red UFO

How important is the tensioner bolt torque.

During my rebuilt friday I over torqued it and snapped it right off. Sort of glad I did now because if its old or too weak and just about to snap. Hate to that the cheap part screw up the other stuff.

What is the torque of that bolt 8 lbs? I think you can tighten that roller bolt so tight it won't move when the tensioner is apply pressure no?

</rookie>

H2

These bolts are EASY to break off...I did three in a row until I got a torque wrench...because the big head fools you into putting more torque on it than you think you are. Use a good torque wrench than can reach the lower levels...not the one you use to check wheel nut torque. The wrench I have measures from 0-35lbs. I can't remember the exact torque for this bolt but it's based on the size of the thread part of the bolt...not the head. I think something about physics plays a role and your "by feel" method may not work too well on this particular bolt.

Harvey

heinrich

Tom, torque is once again a 17mm M8 afaik ... remember the 3 specs I emailed you? What was it, 20Nm or so? Can't remember. The bolt must not move once tight.

bigs

This thread has me wondering...

How accurate is the "Belt Tension" warning system? It seems like a whole lotta expensive stuff is riding on the warning message appearing appropriately. Obviously a catastrophic failure (belt breakage, etc.) could happen suddenly without any warning symptoms. But does anyone have any experience with finding a loose belt/tensioner, etc. purely coincidentally during routine maintenance or belt replacement that the warning system missed?

Gretch

Au contraire....I have had several warning events in Gretch's life. In each of 3 specific instances I remember, the warnings were substantiated by a need for attention, various components, every time. This was before I started doing my own wrenching. Since then I do preventative maintenance and thus far I have had no false positives......

"Loose belts, leave welts"....(on the pistons).......

SharkSkin

I would say don't rely on the belt tension warning system at all unless you have dug into the system and verified that it works OK. Even then, you should not wait until the light comes on to check it out, any more than you wait for loss of oil pressure or the oil level warning light to add engine oil. It's something that you have to pay some attention to.

There have been plenty of folks who had the warning light come on and the issue was nothing more than a loose wire, and there have been plenty of folks who never saw a warning and ended up with a catastrophe on their hands. Early cars(like mine) have no T-belt warning at all.

heinrich

That warning system will tell you if something is amiss. And if it tells you something is amiss, it always is. It may be a broken warning circuit, but that is imho .0001% of the occurrences. If it says it's bad ... dang well better listen

heinrich

I'm running Porken-Commando on the Euro right now, and I stood there watching the tensioner do its thing yesterday .... bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............

Ohhh .. I ... feel ...so ...hmmm.... sleeeeeeepyyyyyyy .......

Anyway, I watched it do its thing .. for a good 5 minutes, and it really is moving every moment the belt is moving. ever-so-slightly, but it is working hard. Better be nice to it. I can't imagine it would be good with no oil in there either ...

PorKen

COVERS!? We don't need no sti-inking COVERS!

SharkSkin

Good points H, but I think my oil level analogy applies as well... Thinking that all is well because you don't see a warning light can land you in a world of hurt...

heinrich

Dave you are correct, common illicit practice is to simply ground the warning system out because it is bothersome, to make those pesky warnings go away.