99 es 1.8L timing belt tensioner

[Teamspates]

When I put the tensioner on the car it says to tighten down after the spring sets the correct tension but it seems as if the spring is too week to even move it so I am not sure if the book is correct on this. No matter how tight you make that bolt, the tensioner it still able to move as if it is loose which means that the spring that goes from the tensioner and connects to a metal post above it is doing all the work of keeping the slack? (even though as I said that the spring can barely move it under it's own power) When the engine was all back together it ran as if one of the cams were off by one notch on the timing belt and we called it a night. the next morning when we started it it ran as smooth as normal but the fans were cycling on and off more than normal, after 4 quick cycles (about 1 minute) the engine went back to he roughness like it was off by one notch on one of the cams. Should the crank shaft key way be strait up for timing? that's what it showed in the book but then again they were wrong about a few other things also...

Thank you in advance.

[Chawk]

i found similar problems i have the 1.8 and the crankshaft sprocket mark needs to sit at 12 oclock. the tensioner should apply the appropriate pressure just by releasing it then tightening it where it rest. if the spring is not moving it at all then you have problems there and will probably want to replace it. However if you do not want to replace it then you may want to just put a slight bit of pressure on it and tighten it. the spring does not put much pressure on the belt.

[Chawk]

correction to the above post, i have a 1.6

[jigsaw12]

Replace the tensioner spring, that should fix your problem. I reccomend any time you change your timing belt change the tensioner spring, the first time I changed my belt I didn't bother changing the spring and about 2 months later it broke and I was on the side of the road. Take my advice for what you want just keep in mind I've been installing auto accessories prefessionally for 8 years and working as a mechanics shop hand for 15 years