how tight should a timing belt be? please help.

just like my title ask… how tight should it be? mine has like a 1/2 inch- 3/4 inch play in it… is that good or what? thanks.

oh and i have searched and didnt find much info on this. thanks. so no need to flame. haha.

You should probably tighten up your tensioner. Real easy and takes about 5 minutes.

yeah i did that already and turned it three teeth counter clockwise like the manual says… what im trying to find out is how much slack should be in it so its not to tight or too loose.

where are u measuring that slack?

i suggest putting cylinder #1 to TDC, then measuring the slack then. if ur tensioner is torqued down properly u prolly shouldn’t need to worry about ur belt, unless u messed with it recently.

are u worried that its jumped a tooth or something? or has it done that already?

no im not worried that it jump a tooth im just making sure because i just put a new timing belt and tensioner on and had it out of time then, had a shop put it in time and then got it back worse then what it was before i took it to the shop… and was told my fuel filter was bad and maybe my fuel pump… i changed the fuel filter myself because he told me it needed it and also i really needed to do it… and it still didnt run right so one day i decided to look at the timing and it was way off like he never put it in time …so i decided to put it in time myself, and i got it all lined up and everything even put all the other belts back on and it started up the first time and ran like a champ… and this was all over a 6 month period but my question is now… i dont want the timing belt to slip off a tooth becuase the belt is too loose… i want to know how tight it should be? i have turned it off and on and drove it up and down the road and it doesnt seem like it has slipped because it would run crappy again… am i right? so i just want to know if pushing on the sides of the belt and it moves about a 1/2 inch is that good or bad?

well u won’t have any control on how tight it is other than by tightening the tensioner. if u torque the tensioner to spec, then u should be aiight. it hasn’t slipped yet, and most that ever do slip happen right away. then some get it when in high rpms for long periods of time. just torque that tensioner down to spec and call it a day. and go drive that baby around and get a feel for her again.

oh ok then cool… i will just keep a watch on it… thanks man for the info, maybe this thread will help someone else out, since i couldnt really find this info . thanks again.

i took a little vid of how the timing belt looks when its running the timing belt on the left looks tight but the other side wobbles alittle… the belt seems to be tight. heres the vid… i dont know if you can see what im talking about.

its hard to tell from your vid, but it Does NOT look like there is any excesive slack in the belt, I wouldnt be to worried about it.

yeah the vid is hard to see, but you can see it alittle, yeah i didnt think it was really bad. it hasnt slipped or jumped yet, i just needed someone else to tell me it looked fine. haha. thanks.

[QUOTE=92tegKc;1935285]just like my title ask… how tight should it be? mine has like a 1/2 inch- 3/4 inch play in it… is that good or what? thanks.

oh and i have searched and didnt find much info on this. thanks. so no need to flame. haha.[/QUOTE]

just so you know, as a basic automotive rule, a 1/2 inch of deflection is normal. now if its looser than that, then yea id use the tensioner and put some ass behind it (to spec).

Doing my belt right now.

The left side of the belt is looser than the right side. I havent rotated the crank yet to let the belt seat in since i was concerned about the belt being loose. Should i rotate the crank too see if it tightens?

You guys are funny. That is normal when then engine is running. One side is going to be longer than the other side. As long it is tighten to spec you’re fine. However for me i tigthen a little more tighter why? Because overtime the belt will/would expand just like any rubberband and other belts. Just check them per manual at their service time.

But the slack u see in the video i know what u are talking about its normal its nothing to worry about. Have u ever try to warm up the car or just turn it on and the right off and go check it? It will be super tight right? No worries.