question on timing belt tension

[vfr.moua]

Hi,

First time posting. I recently change the timing belt on my 98 camry I4 and noticed that the timing belt was a bit loose between the campulley and water pump with the old timing belt. I installed the new timing belt with new idler bearing, new tensioner and new tensioner spring with the campulley was dead on TDC and the crankpulley was on TDC. My problem is that the new timing belt is still a bit loose between the campulley and the water pump as well. I tried a few times and made sure that as I loop the timing belt it was as tight as it could be from the crank pulley to the water pump but still get the "loose" portion. Is this normal for the camry timing belt or did I do something wrong? How tight should the timing belt be? Thanks for any help you can get.

[dz63]

Originally Posted by vfr.moua

Hi,

First time posting. I recently change the timing belt on my 98 camry I4 and noticed that the timing belt was a bit loose between the campulley and water pump with the old timing belt. I installed the new timing belt with new idler bearing, new tensioner and new tensioner spring with the campulley was dead on TDC and the crankpulley was on TDC. My problem is that the new timing belt is still a bit loose between the campulley and the water pump as well. I tried a few times and made sure that as I loop the timing belt it was as tight as it could be from the crank pulley to the water pump but still get the "loose" portion. Is this normal for the camry timing belt or did I do something wrong? How tight should the timing belt be? Thanks for any help you can get.

There should be moderate tension (ie. no sag) in the timing belt between the cam shaft pulley and crankshaft pulley on the side of the timing belt facing the front of the vehicle (ie. on the waterpump side), before you tension the belt with the tensioner.

When you first slide the belt onto the pulleys, it is inevitable that there is some slack on the side of the timing belt facing the front of the vehicle. You simply need to rotate the cam pulley CCW slightly to take out this slack, so that the timing belt is tight on the front side, and then tension the belt with the spring loaded tensioner.

[Stillrunning]

Idler bolt should be loose about 1/2 turn, rotate engine about 2 turns then tighten idler bolt. The spring should set the tension and there should be NO slack. Did you get a couple of spring choices when you replaced the pulley?

[ghettosled]

you will know right away when you fire up the car if the belt is too loose. i found out first hand - it will slap the cover. with a new tensioner you should be okay with the amount of tension it applies. i reused my tensioner so i guess that is why i applied a little extra tension to stop the slapping.

[vfr.moua]

Originally Posted by dz63

There should be moderate tension (ie. no sag) in the timing belt between the cam shaft pulley and crankshaft pulley on the side of the timing belt facing the front of the vehicle (ie. on the waterpump side), before you tension the belt with the tensioner.

When you first slide the belt onto the pulleys, it is inevitable that there is some slack on the side of the timing belt facing the front of the vehicle. You simply need to rotate the cam pulley CCW slightly to take out this slack, so that the timing belt is tight on the front side, and then tension the belt with the spring loaded tensioner.

dz63: I'll try your method to take out the slack when I find some time. Thanks for the advice.

stillrunning: The back portion where the tensioner is located is on tight. It's the front portion between cam shaft pulley and water pump that's a bit loose. I only had one choice for the spring.

ghettosled: the car runs fine with the slack and has been runnning for a couple of week now. I just want to do the job right.