My timing belt doesn't want to stay all the way on the cam gears, wtf.
Yesterday we finished changing the timing belt on our 2001 protege- had 159,000 miles on it: Changed the belt, idler pulley, tensioner pulley, water pump, and the uhhh.... power steering/AC belt. Didn't change the tensioner spring, i measured it was a set of calipers and it measured 3.66 or something... the point is it was within spec, and i didn't have a new one. Why didn't i have a new one.
The old tensioner pulley seemed shot, had a little free play in it. The old belt was on the outside (away from the engine, i guess) of the cam gears but i'm not sure if it was hanging off the gears at all as i SOMEHOW forgot to check it's position. Perhaps i was distracted by my cat or mosquitoes.
We got all the new stuff on and the new belt seems to want to settle around 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch off the cam gears. It isn't rubbing on anything and it seems to want to stay there. We initially assumed maybe this is just how it's supposed to be because it's similar to how it was when the old one was on, but i feel like my belt doesn't like not being supported all the way. I'm convinced the tensioner spring is ok, but i'm going to check it again...
We also thought maybe the crank pulley wasn't all the way on. We used an electric impact wrench to get the bolt on... maybe it's not tightened all the way and it's hung up on something?
When we started up the car the alternator belt squealed a lot, but we tightened it down and it's all good to go. (well it makes a little squeak on start up for a fraction of a second) Aside from that, no other problems. Car runs fine, timing is fine, the belts not rubbing on the valve cover... but it is hanging off the cam gears a little. drove it to school today- after driving our 2004 elantra i was glad to have the protege back... but i'm a bit nervous now...
my question is: "is my belt going to fly off the engine because it's hanging off the cam gears a little and how soon?"
Yesterday we finished changing the timing belt on our 2001 protege- had 159,000 miles on it: Changed the belt, idler pulley, tensioner pulley, water pump, and the uhhh.... power steering/AC belt. Didn't change the tensioner spring, i measured it was a set of calipers and it measured 3.66 or something... the point is it was within spec, and i didn't have a new one. Why didn't i have a new one.
The old tensioner pulley seemed shot, had a little free play in it. The old belt was on the outside (away from the engine, i guess) of the cam gears but i'm not sure if it was hanging off the gears at all as i SOMEHOW forgot to check it's position. Perhaps i was distracted by my cat or mosquitoes.
We got all the new stuff on and the new belt seems to want to settle around 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch off the cam gears. It isn't rubbing on anything and it seems to want to stay there. We initially assumed maybe this is just how it's supposed to be because it's similar to how it was when the old one was on, but i feel like my belt doesn't like not being supported all the way. I'm convinced the tensioner spring is ok, but i'm going to check it again...
We also thought maybe the crank pulley wasn't all the way on. We used an electric impact wrench to get the bolt on... maybe it's not tightened all the way and it's hung up on something?
When we started up the car the alternator belt squealed a lot, but we tightened it down and it's all good to go. (well it makes a little squeak on start up for a fraction of a second) Aside from that, no other problems. Car runs fine, timing is fine, the belts not rubbing on the valve cover... but it is hanging off the cam gears a little. drove it to school today- after driving our 2004 elantra i was glad to have the protege back... but i'm a bit nervous now...
my question is: "is my belt going to fly off the engine because it's hanging off the cam gears a little and how soon?"
Last edited:
