Just bought it yesterday with 100K miles. Playing it safe and switching out the timing belt. The vocabulary for setting the tensioner arm just doesn't make any sense to me. I've come across a few forums with links to clear instructions that people like, but they are no longer valid URLs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

For example, what the hell does it mean to have it eccentric?

 

Haven't heard that term, but I am aware that the tension setting varies based on the ambient temp in your work area. There are youtube videos that walk you through it as I recall.

 

I definitely saw the part about how to set the little arm on the backside of the tensioner. Torque the allen hole so the little arm goes all the way Clockwise, then start moving it CCW to the right position depending on ambient temperature. The instructions are either keeping the arm with the allen head hole at 10 o'clock(what at 10 o'clock? the front piece or the rear piece?) Or keep the front part eccentric.

I am picking the parts up on the way home so I can't hold it and inspect it all. But what the videos didn't show was all this on the car. Is it spring loaded?

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

Cool, saw the 2nd. Not the first.

So what's the point of lining up the overhead cams, going a 1/4 turn clockwise on the crank and turning back again? Wouldn't that be in the exact same place again?

 

It's not as complicated as it may seem. You basically hand tighten the center screw, then rotate the allen so that the arm goes beyond center and then rotate it back so that it is in the center, then tighten the bolt.

After turning the engine over by hand, the arm should still be in the center (not move like in that video)

Clockwise vs. counterclockwise for the allen depends on year and engine number. I always refer to VIDA for the specific car I'm working on.

 

Success! But now my radiator fan is always on. I did disconnect a sensor on the bottom of the surplus coolant tank to move it more out of the way, but I plugged it back in.

EDIT: NM, wiggled and pushed on the sensor connection. Fan behaves normally.