belt tensioner piston?

[nugentc]

I have a growling/rattling noise in an '03 Vibe and was told today it is the belt tensioner and it'll cost $457 to be fixed. I've been doing a little research on the boards and seeing that sometimes it's just a piston in the tensioner? Or a pulley? I'm unclear about this. In either case, it seems that people have had trouble more recently finding just the single part and the whole tensioner needs to be replaced. Does anybody know whether the correct part is still available? Those were pretty old threads that mentioned replacing just a small part rather than the whole thing. Thanks!

[vibrologist]

An entire tensioner can be bought for less than $100. Maybe I would pay a bit more for a better quality, though.
http://www.partsgeek.com/kspbhx7-pontia ... +tensioner

What are the other $350.00 for?

[Salsa Guy]

Replace to whole unit, it's not worth messing with. Changing the tensioner is a bit of a PITA.

[vibrologist]

Code: Select all

Changing the tensioner is a bit of a PITA.

O.K., that's where the money goes.

[Salsa Guy]

Take the Motor mount and break lines loose then jack up the engine just to remove the mounting bolt. Yea it's a pain

[nugentc]

Yeah, the shop says it's a lot of labor. Sounds like something I don't want to tackle myself.
Thanks for the replies!

[Salsa Guy]

It's not hard. Read some posts on it. Just need a floor jack and some stands. Jack up the RH Wheel, place a stand under it, remove wheel, remove inner fender, remove motor mount bolts from fender well, loose brake line brackets, take belt off, lower the floor jack, put a block of wood between floor jack and oil pan slowly jack up about 2" inspecting any items that may bind or get bent. Remove Tensioner mounting bolt and nut, remove and replace tensioner and put every thing back.

[cptnsolo77]

I had the same noise and replacing the belt tensioner fixed it. Its not that difficult at all. Theres is a how to on here somewhere. My only advice would be to spray the the tensioner mounting bolts with pentrating oil before you loosen them up. Mine were VERY tight and I was worried about breaking the studs. After I sprayed the bolts and let it soak for about a week, also spraying it everyday and let it sit overnight...the bolts came right off Dont forget a new goodyear gatorback belt. Those seem to be the best for the 1ZZ engine. I did this 2 years ago and no probs since.

[nugentc]

Thanks, everyone!