Timing Belt Tension
 

Hey guys, I'm sorry if my question has been already asked, I did a search and could not find an answer.

Its my first time owning a honda vehicle, I had a radiator leak so i decided to change water pump rad, thermostat, and timing belt.

All went well accept the timing belt. upon inspection of the tensioner it looked perfectly round and the spring is in good condition. I aligned the markings and all is at tdc and loosened tensioner half a turn spun the crank 3 teeth past tdc cw and tightened the tensioner to 40. anyways here's my question the belt over the cams looks tight no play and the cam to crank looks tight no play but the side where crank goes to tensioner then to pump then cam looks really loose and there is a lot of play. is that normal ? how much play should there be ? do i need a new tensioner and how would i check the existing tensioner ?

i actually drove the car and it drives fine i just don't know if there's going to be an issue later on.

Thanks in advance.

I know when I do them on the B18's ( or any engine for that fact) I tighten the tensioner before I rotate the engine at all. There should be a little bit of movement in the belt, but not much.

yea i mean i did it the proper way, align crank and cams at tdc put on belt then tighten tensioner then rotate crank counter clock wise 6 full turns, bring back to tdc loosen the tensioner half a turn, turn crank 3 teeth past tdc and then tighten to 40lbs.

i have no belt play at the cams and no belt play at crank to cam, but im getting lots of belt play on the right side which is the side where the belt starts running from "crank to tensioner to pump to first cam". I just don't know if that's normal ? or is my tensioner bad ? or on how would i go about checking my tensioner ? because thats the only part that i have not changed, on a note i drove the car and it drives fine just don't want to do any damage !

Thanks for your help :)

when i did mine. i tightened the tensioner, rotated the crank 4 full revolutions loosened the tensioner then tightened it again then rotated another 4 turns to make sure all my marks lined up. there should be a 90 degree deflection rate. that'll tell you if it's tight enough.

check your timing marks.

k cool so im good then, if looking at the timing cover from the front. i have almost no deflection on top (between 2 cams). i have almost no delflection on left side (cam to crank). i have almost 90 degree deflection on right side (crank to tensioner to pump to top right cam)

no that's not right.
check your deflection from exhaust cam to crank

After I rotate the engine a few times and bring it back to TDC, I never loosen the tensioner. Really you should not be loosing it, as nothing should have moved if you did it right.

thanks guys, looks to me like i need a new tensioner, i have to much play on the side where the tensioner is supposed to tension ! which is the intake cam side, i never changed the tensioner so i guess gatta head to honda and pick one up.

i'll have to check my helms manual. i know when i followed it, it was good. any other way i did it i ended having slack in the wrong spots or i ended up half a tooth off on my cams.

i also used the manual, i think it just a bad tensioner, i got the tensioner from acura and i guess i need to get the spring now. because it looks like the spring does all the tension.

oh guys just to so we are on the same page, its not an alignment issue its the actual tension on the belt the teeth don't skip its just the tension on the belt all the teeth are in sink with cams and crank when rotated to TDC.

o.k so i got a new tensioner and spring. took it apart to find that no teeth have jumped. did everything to the t and everything is nice and tight :) . the old tensioner was going to go any day now the bearing was real loose.

thanks to everyone !!!

Glad you got it fixed.