Does anyone have any tricks to loosening the timing belt tensioner? I have two more bolts and the timing belt between me and yanking the right cam tower off.

 

John,
The tensioner is held to the block with 4 bolts and then it will come off.
You may need to give it a tap with a rubber mallett.
Have you removed all 4 bolts as a couple are hidden.

 

I haven't gone that far yet. I was initially trying to back out the tensioner nut enough to slip the belt off. I'll do some more digging for the 4 bolts

 

Large bolt on the back of the tensioner which also has a lock nut.
If you have backed that all the way out it may be that the piston is stuck in the cylinder.
Just cut the belt with a knife.

 

Yep... the large bolt+lock nut is the one I've been working on. No luck yet....

 

if you get the center bolts loose and the tensioner doesnt seem like its moving, just remove the 3 remaining bolts that are holding onto the block .
You shouild be rebuilding the tensioner and putting in a new seal and O ring and new rubber boot. I suggest that you use a visene bottle ( drill out the tip a bit) filled with STP to refill the tensioner .

 

Can you still buy STP? Used to use it as chain lube (cook the chain in it all afternoon) but had trouble finding other uses. Tensioner might not be a bad use, but it's awfully thick at cold temps. It would have a tough time flowing through the bypass port and returning to the chamber under the piston. There will be a lot of leakage/clearance forgiveness in STP. I'll speculate that you really don't want to overfill the tensioner if you use it.

 

Roger that. Thanks for the update all. DrBob, its been unseasonably warm [80's] in Dallas as of late, so I don't believe the cold temps will be such an issue. [as long as i can get this done while its still warm next week].

 

Most Auto stores still carry it , usually in the engine additive area, it seems to work well in the Tensioner its thickness seems to prevent leaking/oozing