“98 S1 Elise Belt tensioner.
Discussion
Hi guys,
I did the HG last year and at the same time changed the timing belt, tensioner and water pump. Wednesday evening I was out in the car when it lost most of its power and sounded crap. With the help of a friend, found the problem to be the timing belt jumped 2 teeth, we imagine from the crank end as both cam pulley’s where still aligned… ( the automatic tensioner wasn’t loose, however the belt had become very slack).
Having re-read the Haynes and other sources there are discrepancies to whether you tighten the automatic tensioner clockwise or anti clockwise, and if tightened the wrong way would it loosen the belt ? … which way should be tighten it .. any other checks we can make ?
Should just add, there isn't a washer behind the tensioner, even though haynes go to the effort of mentioning it... but for sure the automatic tensioner wasnt loose...
Cheers
Matt
I did the HG last year and at the same time changed the timing belt, tensioner and water pump. Wednesday evening I was out in the car when it lost most of its power and sounded crap. With the help of a friend, found the problem to be the timing belt jumped 2 teeth, we imagine from the crank end as both cam pulley’s where still aligned… ( the automatic tensioner wasn’t loose, however the belt had become very slack).
Having re-read the Haynes and other sources there are discrepancies to whether you tighten the automatic tensioner clockwise or anti clockwise, and if tightened the wrong way would it loosen the belt ? … which way should be tighten it .. any other checks we can make ?
Should just add, there isn't a washer behind the tensioner, even though haynes go to the effort of mentioning it... but for sure the automatic tensioner wasnt loose...
Cheers
Matt
Edited by goodwoodweirdo on Friday 6th July 14:00
goodwoodweirdo said:
Hi guys,
I did the HG last year and at the same time changed the timing belt, tensioner and water pump. Wednesday evening I was out in the car when it lost most of its power and sounded crap. With the help of a friend, found the problem to be the timing belt jumped 2 teeth, we imagine from the crank end as both cam pulley’s where still aligned… ( the automatic tensioner wasn’t loose, however the belt had become very slack).
Having re-read the Haynes and other sources there are discrepancies to whether you tighten the automatic tensioner clockwise or anti clockwise, and if tightened the wrong way would it loosen the belt ? … which way should be tighten it .. any other checks we can make ?
Should just add, there isn't a washer behind the tensioner, even though haynes go to the effort of mentioning it... but for sure the automatic tensioner wasnt loose...
Cheers
Matt
Matt,I did the HG last year and at the same time changed the timing belt, tensioner and water pump. Wednesday evening I was out in the car when it lost most of its power and sounded crap. With the help of a friend, found the problem to be the timing belt jumped 2 teeth, we imagine from the crank end as both cam pulley’s where still aligned… ( the automatic tensioner wasn’t loose, however the belt had become very slack).
Having re-read the Haynes and other sources there are discrepancies to whether you tighten the automatic tensioner clockwise or anti clockwise, and if tightened the wrong way would it loosen the belt ? … which way should be tighten it .. any other checks we can make ?
Should just add, there isn't a washer behind the tensioner, even though haynes go to the effort of mentioning it... but for sure the automatic tensioner wasnt loose...
Cheers
Matt
A '98 Elise has a manual tensioner as standard fitment , does your tensioner have a steel or metal roller?
If it is an auto tensioner then the direction of rotation of the adjusting plate will depend on whether it has beenn top or bottom adjusted, either way the slot if the backplate should be exactly in line with the spring tang when the engine is stationary. If the slot is above the spring tang it is too slack, if it is below the spring tang it is too tight.
If it is a manual tensioner then the backplate is tipped upwards (anti-clockwise) to tension the belt.
None of the bolts should have washers fitted.
Dave
Edited by DVandrews on Friday 6th July 17:11
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