herc130j

Well, I rebuilt the 3VZE with the 1990 block and the 1994 heads. I had to keep the 1990 tensioner setup. I had everything put together in the truck and went to fire it up. It turned over but will not fire up. I checked to make sure that I had spark and fuel. I did so I thought I had the dist 180 out. Tried that but that wasn't the problem. Well, I tore the front of the motor off and found the tensioner pulley was stuck all the way to the left. Well I loosened it up and it sprung back to the right. I realigned the timing belt and retorqued the tensioner bolt and put everything back together. I sold the truck to a friend and he drove it for a week or so and now it has done it again. Was I supposed to put loctite or something on the bolt or what? Maybe I over torqued it at 27 ft lbs. I have no clue as to why it's doing this. Antone know where I am screwing this up?

herc130j

Anyone have an idea?

OutlawMike

Just to clarify, you are using the early style 3.0 tensioner with the coil spring that pulls the tensioner pulley to the right to tension the belt? Pictures below, the spring is disconnected in the first photo. In the second photo the spring is installed and pulling the tensioner over to the right.

If you are using this style tensioner, is the spring attached to the tensioner pulley? Is the spring in good condition? They can lose their spring rate over time. I replaced mine when I did the rebuild.

herc130j

Yep, that's the one. I replaced the tensioner pulley, spring, water pump, and the pulley between the camshaft sprockets. Yes the spring is connected. It seems like the tensioner is getting stuck to the left and the spring isn't strong enough to pull it back. But when I loosen the bolt a little it springs to the left. What's the torque supposed to be on the tensioner pulley bolt and does it require locktite?

24Runna

Have you rotated crank a few revolutions too?

OutlawMike

No, it is not supposed to have Lock Tight on it, the bolt is supposed to be torqued to 27 ft-lbs, as per the FSM that I have for my truck.

Summary of the FSM instructions:

Install the crankshaft timing pulley with the grove of the pulley aligned with teh oil pump (TDC).

Install the #1 idler pulley (tensioner), pry it toward the left as far as it will go and temporarily tighten it.

Install the camshaft timing pulleys with the marks on the timing belt cover. Do not install the match pins and do not tighten the camshaft pulley bolts, leave them loose.

Install the timing belt (easier said than done, takes two people).

Pry the #1 idler pulley toward the right as far as it will go and temporarily tighten the bolt. This tensions the belt.

Install the tension spring.

Loosen the idler pulley bolt to where the idler pulley lightly moves with the tension spring force.

Install the crank bolt and rotate the motor through two revolutions from TDC to TDC for the #1 cylinder on the compression stroke. (clockwise)

Check that each pulley aligns with the marks (crank pulley and both cam pulleys).

Torque the #1 idler to 27 ft-lbs.

Remove the camshaft timing pulley bolts.

Install the match pins, and then the pulley bolts, torque to spec.


I hope that helps.

I wonder if you are getting too much tension on the belt for some reason. The crank is pulling downward on the belt, which tries to push the #1 idler to the left. If a bearing is shot in the water pump, or in the #2 idler, or if one of the cam bearings is cocked on a cam journal, maybe you are getting a lot of tension in the belt to overcome that, which pushes the tensioner over sideways. Well, on second thought, that is a long shot, probably not the case.

Or, the tapped hole for the tensioner bolt has crap in it and at 27 ft-lbs it is not fully seated?

Or you mixed up the bolts and the bolt you are using is too long?


Good luck,

Mike

ctreon

Do you happen to know the bolt specs by chance? I'm rebuilding the same motor for a friend and he doesn't have the timing belt tensioner bolt.