hughstary

Hi,

I went to put a new cambelt on my 98 1.8 Zetec at the weekend, and found the tensioner didn't match the Haynes description - it's the older 98 type with a spring that hooks onto a pin screwed into the inner cambelt shield. However, the spring and pin were both missing and the tensioner was bolted tight in a fixed position. I understood from the description that the pulley should be free to move, allowing to spring to take up changes in belt tension - have I got that right ?

All I could do in the short term was to tension the belt approximately as before, but there seems to be a fair bit of slack. When the engine runs from cold, I can hear the belt slapping on the top cambelt cover - a bit of a worrying noise! I'm assuming that the last person to change the belt must have bodged it for some reason, or am I missing something ?

I plan to source a new tensioner pulley and replace it properly, but just wanted to check that I'm on the right track. Any comments very welcome!

Cheers