Timing belt tensioning method

[lbus9168]

Hey all,

Just a general enquiry about the way I've been doing timing belts.

Now, I am aware of the three tooth method, which I have used, but it seems to me that simply manually tensioning the belt then tightening the tensioner, checking that there is no major slack (I've been leaving it with about 1/3rd a twist each way on the longest side of the timing belt), and then being done with it.

Are there any issues with doing it this way? It seems pretty tight to me and seems to work fine but I don't want to do it badly just in case.

Thanks

[cp[mike]]

the only reason the OEM procedure says to rotate it by 3 teeth is to make sure that the slack is taken up on the left side, and that it all is taken up by the tensioner.

The only problem with your method is that you can't be entirely sure that there is NO major slack. You may have a tiny bit of slack. If you rotate the crank and pull the cams with it, you at least know there is ZERO play on the left side. If you just eyeball it, it may be off by just a hair.

[EsperHamid]

CP[MIKE] !! I noticed when I did the tightening that the slack moves to the right side and the left side becomes tight <== did I do it correctly? Frankly I was wondering why there are still slack on the right ( back side ) of the belt.