Timing belt slack

[Slorgit]

Hi everyone, new to the vg33e engine. Just picked up an r50 pathfinder for my winter beater and camping rig. Had no service records of any kind and the front end was pretty much toast. replaced struts, sway bar end links and both wheel bearings (seems they were replaced possibly recently but were not packed properly as there was tons of play and no grease on the inner side of the rollers). Have a feeling the same person may have done the timing belt as well and there seems to be A LOT of slack in the belt. I can easily turn it around 100-110 degrees with minimal effort, would be easy to slide off by hand under tension. The last belt i did was an ej20k and before that was my RB26 and i don't recall either being that loose when under tension. Thinking the spring may have been weak when tension was set or it was just wrong. Wanting another opinion before i reassemble to see if its the norm.

 

Any other things That should be checked out? replacing the water pump and thermostat as well. Cam/crank seals are bone dry so planning on leaving those as is.

 

 

Thanks!

[Slartibartfast]

There shouldn't be that much slack. These don't use a sprung tensioner. The center of the tensioner roller has an offset mounting hole and a hex hole, and you just turn it with an Allen key until it's tensioned how you want it and then torque the nut that holds it so it can't back off. I did mine based on a writeup on here (I think it was this one) and IIRC I just pointed the allen key at the crank, torqued the nut to spec, and checked that the TB was hard to twist past 90°... then redid it several times because I was paranoid about setting it wrong.

 

Do the seals. I skipped my crank seal when I did mine because it wasn't leaking, and it started leaking as soon as I had it buttoned back up. There's also a bypass hose on the water pump that's a good idea to replace while you're in there.

Good luck! Hopefully the PO didn't leave you too many more easter eggs.

[onespiritbrain]

The 5 o’clock position thing worked perfectly for me. I can’t remember what exactly is in the “5 o’clock” position though.. Is it the allen wrench hole in the tensioner? Or is it the bolt that tightens the tensioner down and the time position changes as the tensioner spins on its axis??


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[Slartibartfast]

I judged angle on mine from the long end of the allen, if that makes sense. The bolt just locks it in position.

 

Unrelated, I still can't talk about an allen wrench without thinking of a prairie dog yelling "Allen! Allen! Allen!"