Adamant1971

My Belt ten light cones on intermittently. Motor at TDC and the kempf tool shows the belt too tight.

See pic.
http://gallery.me.com/sunsetgrill.derry/100031/IMG%5F0734

Would a tight belt set off the warning?
Should I just adjust it, or look for a problem with the tensioner.

Car is new to me with no records. Belt and cam gears look good.

I plan on doing the belt and water pump eventually. Just trying to get the car operational for the the remainder if the summer.

Adam

WallyP

Possible problems include:
- Loose electrical connection on the tension warning sensor system.
- No oil in tensioner.
- Worn bushings on the tensioner arm.

The tension warning system works like a home burglar alarm. There is a wire running from the warning computer to the connector on the belt housing. It is the small bullet connector on the forward face of the passenger belt cover, near the oil dipstick tube. From there, a short wire runs to the tensioner arm, where it plugs onto a 1/4" flat connector that is part of a metal strip that runs to a ring connector that is sitting under a stout coil spring.

As long as there is adequate tension on the belt, the coil spring is compressed, and the wire is grounded to the engine block. When the tension gets low, the spring pushes the ring connector away, and the circuit is broken, setting the tension warning.

Any bad connection in the system will set the warning. Possibilities include:
- Bad connection at the bullet connector at the cover.
- Bad connection at the 1/4" flat connector at the tensioner arm.
- Broken flat metal strip on the arm - later cars have a wire instead of the metal strip.

If the tension has lost the engine oil filling, belt flutter can cause momentary loss of ground as the arm bounces.

You can use plastic tubing to pump or pour oil into the outer nipple until it flows from the inner nipple.

heinrich

Wally is sort of Yoda on these things, or maybe more like Moses (at least in his ((Moses')) post-murderous days ) ... anyway, consider looking carefully at all components. I see your belt is new-ish. Was the tensioner per chance replaced? If so, look very carefully if the little shaft that presses against the idler roller tension arm, is STRAIGHT. If not, then they installed the wrong model year tensioner. Seen it, caused your symptoms and engine destruction.

9elfmotorsports

Trying to make the picture out. Looks like you are measuring upper part of belt? Make sure you measure the lower slack part of the belt.

SteveG

I can't tell anything from that pic other than it may be reversed or you are on the wrong side of the engine. If you are applying the tool why is the belt not twisted by the tool? Either way, 9elf is right, tool should be applied as near the center cover lip as possible. If the wire strap is broken or the circuit is otherwise broken, the light would come on ±3 min after you start engine and stay on. Too tight is almost as bad as too loose, it can hasten cam gear wear (the coating on the teeth) or even break the gear off the cam. Good luck.

9elfmotorsports

http://www.928gt.com/t-wallytbelt.aspx

This link shows where to check tension, the tool is different but checking point is whats important. this is where belt slack is. engine must be on TDC cyl 1 and always rotate in correct direction of rotation ONLY

Bill Ball

90 degree left rotation of your picture. Looks like you are doing the check correctly. Peek behind that center cover for the 1/4" spade and wire Wally mentioned. It may be loose. Also, the early tensioners had a solid copper strip running down the tensioner arm from that spade. That strip can fracture. It was superceded by a more flexible and durable wire. Anyway, your belt is quite a bit over the tight end of the window, which is too tight. The belt looks fairly new with just smearing of the printing on the backside.

Adamant1971

I will post some better pictures later, maybe the pic got flipped.

I'm taking the reading in the correct position and it reads tight.

I have no idea when the belt was done, but does spear recent. I have no way of knowing if they rebuilt the tensioner or replaced it. But by the amount of grime on the tensioner it looks like it's older than the belt.

I will check it out later and report back my findings. If I have to take the centre covet off to inspect the tensioner I will just put in the porkensioner, water pump and new belt.

blown 87

It also looks like the cam gears are gone also, kind of hard to tell on your pic.

Adamant1971

The can gears are good, must be the pic.

Just putting the kids to bad and back at her soon.

Landseer

Wrong thickness or no washer, at the area where the tensioner contacts the tensioner arm, can cause it.

BIMMERMIKE

I visited Adam today and with a little cleaning, car will look awesome!
Adam you may want to remove cam gear covers and check to make sure everything is in place(washers, bushing etc.) and get tension correct. I really dont think yoru require a new belt or water pump as it looked good and relatively new. You have all parts on order for a belt\water pump change so possilbly take everything apart to ensure you correct roller arm, bushing etc. and you shoud be go to go. The cam gears are not worn at all .
I helped with belt tension check and the tool showed it was way tight.

Adamant1971

Ok so confirmed that the wire leaving the back of the plug is connected, you can't see it in the pic, but I could feel it with my finger. I unpluged the connection first, that is why you will see in the second pic that the bullet connector is unplugged.

The second pic shows the exposed portion of the tensioner, it's soaked in oil and it does not appear like it's coming from anything above, so I'm thinking that the tensioner was not replaced or rebuilt when the belt was done, based on how new the belt looks and how dirty the tensioner is.

As well the one roller in pic one looks like it's been around a while and from what I can feel the tensioner is the unit with a copper strip, the wire comes out of the plug and then plugs in it right behind the connector.

So if the belt was done and the tensioner just reused, perhaps the oil leaked out, or it was over tightened or damaged in the process.

I have a new belt and prokensioner coming from Roger. I think at this point the condition of the stock tensioner is dicey. I may try to adjust it.

What is your opinion on the oil that is covering the tensioner?

the flyin' scotsman

From the pic in Bills post the belt looks as if its riding too near the cam gear edge and the belt is way too tight.

The pics above seem to show the roller in poor condition and yes the tensioner leaked oil.

The tension has to be corrected and the other parts of the system inspected and repaired as required.

An over tight belt will cause the bearings in the tensioner systen and water pump to heat/seize and the belt could break......I wouldnt start the engine.

blown 87

It just looks like some of the coating is gone in the middle of the teeth, can you get a good picture of them like the ones you posted above?