Project Car / Motorbike thread. Let's see 'em.

link1896

Mr Greenfield
Does the timing system have a belt keeper around the crank pulley? If not, I’d kinda fall towards the automatic tensioner. As flow points out, shorter life but kinda more idiot proof if installed correctly

I managed to reuse many Subaru hydraulic tensioner back in the day, using a g clamp, taking 2 minutes to slowly reset. But I did replace the bearings in the pulley.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Does the timing system have a belt keeper around the crank pulley? If not, I’d kinda fall towards the automatic tensioner. As flow points out, shorter life but kinda more idiot proof if installed correctly

I managed to reuse many Subaru hydraulic tensioner back in the day, using a g clamp, taking 2 minutes to slowly reset. But I did replace the bearings in the pulley.
Ive installed many many manual tensioners, I am comfy getting the tension right.

But as I've always had european cars, never had much to do with those hydraulic belt tensioners. Older ones all manual, newer ones use the internal spring type ones. Mum's Magna had one, did the vice over a minute or two trick on that ok - I found it disconcerting the belt would go really slack between the front cam pulley and the water pump when the engine was turned off as the rear cam pulled the tensioner in from valve springs pushing against it...

For the Hiundy they're using the euro style spring auto tensioner, not the hydraulic one. Another point of evidence that the i30 was developed explicitly for the european market perhaps?
 
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Flow-Rider

Burner
I had done about 8 years of fleet servicing, I can't recall finding a loose timing belt with a fixed tensioner unless there were other issues like worn bearings or an ancient belt with cracks. I suppose when you start going to the longer belts on the quad cam stuff it might become as issue. A lot of the early Mitsubishi stuff with belts had hydraulic tensioners that just failed left, right and centre.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I had done about 8 years of fleet servicing, I can't recall finding a loose timing belt with a fixed tensioner unless there were other issues like worn bearings or an ancient belt with cracks. I suppose when you start going to the longer belts on the quad cam stuff it might become as issue. A lot of the early Mitsubishi stuff with belts had hydraulic tensioners that just failed left, right and centre.
Too many tensioners, probably only needed one.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
QUOTE: "Typically, hydraulic tensioners can operate with a larger range of dynamic belt lengths than mechanical tensioners. Due to the length of stroke of the actuator and the lever design the hydraulic tensioner system is particularly suitable for large V6 or V8 applications. The high unidirectional damping characteristics make it suitable for controlling the dynamic belt behaviour on applications with high dynamic loads."
 

link1896

Mr Greenfield
I had done about 8 years of fleet servicing, I can't recall finding a loose timing belt with a fixed tensioner unless there were other issues like worn bearings or an ancient belt with cracks. I suppose when you start going to the longer belts on the quad cam stuff it might become as issue. A lot of the early Mitsubishi stuff with belts had hydraulic tensioners that just failed left, right and centre.

Mitsuboshi belts on a Mitsubishi just to do everyone's head in?
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Not my finest moment… Fired the Scenic up after doing its timing belt/pump job today. Ran perfectly, no leaks, all good. Accessory belt tensioner was a bit noisy though - felt ok by hand, but no matter I’ll throw the good spare on it. Didn’t notice when i was putting the belt on again and releasing the tensioner it had moved 2 notches inwards on the crank pulley while i was faffing about getting it over the compressor pulley.

So this made a good noise on start up and sprayed a lot of rubber dust everywhere. Inside of the accessory belt looks worse…

Sigh. 30 euros for the two new belts isn’t the end of the world I guess. I’m sure some mechanics would just ship it like this and it would probably be fine - especially on a car I’m fixing up to sell. But I can’t not change the belt…

 

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
The Jimny has been intermittently hiccuping at idle for some time now. No error codes are thrown.

It doesn't stall but doesn't fill you with confidence either. All fine when driving with some throttle so it is something funky with the idle airflow/fuel mix. Mrs wasn't a fan and didn't want to drive it but wasn't going to get far with the manual Mazda either :)

Mechanics seem to have a shotgun approach and replace coils, spark plugs, MAF sensor, PCV valve etc as likely culprits but not knowing if it will fix it 100%. Possible small holes in vacuum hoses is another one. Couldn't put my finger on what it could be overall and didn't want to just throw money at it either without knowing that it will make a difference. Seems to be an issue with Suzuki engines but no clear root cause.

I cleaned the throttle body butterfly valve where it felt a bit goopy and sticky. I guessed it could be sticking while the ECU thought it was an another angle hence the cough at idle. Seemed a bit better for a few weeks then it came back. Doh, but in hindsight was a hint.

Took it out yesterday and it hiccupped more so had to look at it again this morning.

Pulled off the PCV valve and cleaned and degreased it. Got some Nulon throttle body/carburettor cleaner and cleaned the throttle body and the idle control intake. Sprayed a bunch of it in, started it and then rinse and repeated.

All good so far and it feels smoother with more power, well a bit more. I hope I'm not speaking too soon again but a $20 cleaner vs. a $900+ MAF sensor is a good start.

None of this fun will happen with electric cars, errr....... right....??
 

dancaseyimages

Mountain bike pornographer
The Jimny has been intermittently hiccuping at idle for some time now. No error codes are thrown.

It doesn't stall but doesn't fill you with confidence either. All fine when driving with some throttle so it is something funky with the idle airflow/fuel mix. Mrs wasn't a fan and didn't want to drive it but wasn't going to get far with the manual Mazda either :)

Mechanics seem to have a shotgun approach and replace coils, spark plugs, MAF sensor, PCV valve etc as likely culprits but not knowing if it will fix it 100%. Possible small holes in vacuum hoses is another one. Couldn't put my finger on what it could be overall and didn't want to just throw money at it either without knowing that it will make a difference. Seems to be an issue with Suzuki engines but no clear root cause.

I cleaned the throttle body butterfly valve where it felt a bit goopy and sticky. I guessed it could be sticking while the ECU thought it was an another angle hence the cough at idle. Seemed a bit better for a few weeks then it came back. Doh, but in hindsight was a hint.

Took it out yesterday and it hiccupped more so had to look at it again this morning.

Pulled off the PCV valve and cleaned and degreased it. Got some Nulon throttle body/carburettor cleaner and cleaned the throttle body and the idle control intake. Sprayed a bunch of it in, started it and then rinse and repeated.

All good so far and it feels smoother with more power, well a bit more. I hope I'm not speaking too soon again but a $20 cleaner vs. a $900+ MAF sensor is a good start.

None of this fun will happen with electric cars, errr....... right....??
Electric cars will be fine as you will be able to troubleshoot it over the phone ;) and your credit card is on file anyways so can be auto ordered.
 
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