Honda tensioner

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
Messages
233
Location
NY
The hydraulic tensioner may be going on my 2010 Civic. Is this something that I can can replace with an aftermarket part or should I stick with a Honda original?
 
OE is probably your best bet but look at a Dayco at AA. They have been repacking OE stuff for some German and Japanese cars.
Look at the COO on the box and the parts, if its not Chinese go home order online with a coupon and go back and pick it up or if your a real [censored] like me order it over the smartphone right there in the store.
lol.gif
 
Symptoms? Mine has rattled for the past couple of years, never getting worse and only bad in cold weather. It also compressed smoothly when I replaced the serpentine belt. This leads me to believe that it's the pulley.
 
You are referring to the timing chain tensioner, correct? I thought they are almost bullet proof on a Honda. Are you having specific problems that lead you to believe your timing chain tensioner is going bad?
 
I've found most OE parts are same, cheaper, or barely more expensive than the auto part retailers. I'd go OE, personally.
 
I just looked at a picture of it for a 1.8. If the hydraulic cylinder is wet the tensioner is shot, if its dry and has good tension you probably just need a pulley.
Straightforward stuff, easy to change.
 
Thanks Trav. Hopefully I can track it down this weekend. I have some issues with my hearing so pinpointing noise related problems is often problematic for me.
 
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Symptoms? Mine has rattled for the past couple of years, never getting worse and only bad in cold weather. It also compressed smoothly when I replaced the serpentine belt. This leads me to believe that it's the pulley.


Yes - I'm getting a rattling noise too - trying to pinpoint it down - mainly on cold starts and then eventually goes away.
 
I just replaced mine, I started a mooing sound, the sound was the belt starting to go and I had all kinds of play in the pulley.
 
Originally Posted By: tdpark
I just replaced mine, I started a mooing sound, the sound was the belt starting to go and I had all kinds of play in the pulley.


Thanks - did you pull the belt off to check for play?
 
I did not have to- you could see it wobbling and the belt was starting to get chewed up. When they finally got the tensioner out- there was play in the pulley, looked and felt liked it was going to fail in a few places, they could not just fix the pulley as it had chewed into the assembly. The van is at 288k and this was the original tensioner. I have no idea how I got this far on the original factory tensioner.
 
Originally Posted By: tdpark
I did not have to- you could see it wobbling and the belt was starting to get chewed up. When they finally got the tensioner out- there was play in the pulley, looked and felt liked it was going to fail in a few places, they could not just fix the pulley as it had chewed into the assembly. The van is at 288k and this was the original tensioner. I have no idea how I got this far on the original factory tensioner.


Are you referring to the drive or the timing belt? I just started getting the same sound on my Civic with about 300k. I expect its the same problem, although the drive belt doesn't look chewed up yet. How much did the repair cost? Thanks.
 
So I "exercised" the tensioner by slowly putting it through its full range of motion a few times. Noise seems to have gone away. Of course, cold starts are not that cold this time of year. We'll see how things are when Fall comes around.
 
I had bad luck with my serpentine belt tensioner in my 2012 CRV last year. Had to replace it at only 20,000 miles. Warranty no longer in force despite the low miles I put on it. I knew it was the tensioner assembly as I could see the belt moving 1-2 mm left and right on the alternator pulley and heard clicking noises.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top