Tensioner

[hotglueman68]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this so I stuff up.. well I appolagise. Can someone pls tell me if the tensioner on my V6 Acclaim is difficult or otherwise to replace. I had to change the coolant at Xmas time & whilst it was running I noticed that the tensioner moves a little bit to n fro, prob why the belt moves side to side on the actual pulley or is this just a normal habit of these things? Cheers Marty.

[wortus]

I'd assume it cam move slightly as some of the pulleys might be slightly out of round etc. Unless the belt is slipping or the mechanism is broken I'd leave it. To take it off you have to drain the cooling system and take those small pipes off the engine I think and from memory one even goes through the tensioner body?. If you have to take it off you can save the coolant in a clean bucket and re use it, just top it up with the correct type and concentration.

[aussie4life11]

just for verification, what part is it thats moving? the idler tensionpully arm or the wheel itself?

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Yes, the tensioner can move in and out a bit on the arm. Look across the front of the engine and inline with the belt, if you can see that the tensioner has a noticeable tilt then it is buggered.

Not too hard to replace, but the alternator has to be undone and swung out of the way.