right dat brian,but once the mechanical.distance is set and the nut or in some cases bolt is tightened the spring is just a fail safe. --- On Wed, 2/10/10, Brian Shorey <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Brian Shorey <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [alfa] GTV-6 engine problem To: "ira kaufman" <[email protected]>, "George Graves" <[email protected]> Cc: "alfa" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 12:42 PM The first iteration of the mechanical tensioner had weak springs. They tended to break at the base, IIRC. This was a well known problem, and had nothing to do with poor installation. Alfa modified the design and provided an updated version of the tensioner. To the best of my knowledge, those units are basically trouble free. bs ________________________________ From: ira kaufman <[email protected]> To: George Graves <[email protected]> Cc: alfa <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, February 10, 2010 12:24:20 PM Subject: Re: [alfa] GTV-6 engine problem as far as the canadian or any other tensioner goes i can't see why there would be any failure aside from a bearing going south.i've never seen a mechanical tensioner go from another reason.if there is some other failure possible i'd like to know about it.if the canada unit is useing a chinese bearing i would change the bearing to a good u.s. or japonese or german make. --- On Tue, 2/9/10, George Graves <[email protected]> wrote: From: George Graves <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [alfa] GTV-6 engine problem To: "Joe Elliott" <[email protected]> Cc: "<[email protected]>" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 7:19 PM My experience is exactly the opposite. I find the Canadian-made mechanical de-tensioner to be utter garbage. I've had two of them fail. One was caught before the belt jumped, the second one, alas, was not. A much better solution, IMHO, is to use one of the original Alfa hydraulic de-tensioners with the hydraulic line blocked off (if you have a mechanical de-tensioner fitted, this has already been done). It turns out that the hydraulic part of the original de-tensioner is not needed. It works fine without it. The springs in the mechanical de-tensioner, due to their clockspring design are subject to popping-out sideways causing a failure. Also, I have found that lots of mechanics don't understand how to install them properly to get the proper tension in the first place. My advice is to stay away. George Graves '86 GTV-6 3.0 'S' On Feb 9, 2010, at 3:51 PM, Joe Elliott wrote: > I was afraid that would come up. I'm using an OEM tensioner with the > oil feed blocked off, which I've previously advocated as > theoretically infallible. (Okay, I never actually said that, but I > was pretty confident it was the best way to go.) I guess I should > also mention that this belt was installed in 2004, and my > recommendation to others has always been to replace the belt every > 30k miles OR 5 years, so as far as I know the advice I've provided > is, in fact, infallible. > > -Joe > > > At 3:37 PM -0800 2/9/10, Brian Shorey wrote: >> Ouch. Sorry to hear that, but hopefully the valves are ok. >> >> If I may ask, what (de)tensioner are you using? >> >> bs >> >> >> >> From: Joe Elliott <[email protected]> >> To: Brian Shorey <[email protected]> >> Cc: AD <[email protected]>; [email protected] >> Sent: Tue, February 9, 2010 6:34:25 PM >> Subject: Re: [alfa] GTV-6 engine problem >> >> I came home from work on a flatbed, and the timing belt has >> definitely jumped a couple teeth. But it couldn't be a simple >> matter of the crank pulley having slipped, wherein I could just lock >> down the cams and put enough force on it to skip the other >> direction. The right cam was retarded one tooth, but the left cam >> is retarded at least two, so I guess I'm going to have to totally >> re-fit the timing belt before I can determine whether or not there's >> been internal engine damage. Which means driving the Porsche 928 to >> work tomorrow with a couple inches more snow predicted; that should >> be interesting. >> >> Thanks again, >> Joe Elliott >> -- >> to be removed from alfa, see >> <http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi>http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-s ubs.cgi >> or email "unsubscribe alfa" to >> <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] > -- > to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi > or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
