Damn tensioner - could it be?

[wyldejackyl]

From doing a search it seems my tensioner is going AGAIN. I replaced this one two summers ago and I remember the part costing like $180 from the $tealer (Toyota..GM wanted almost twice that, literally). I haven't looked at it, but I'm willing to bet that stupid hydraulic thing is leaking. The noise comes and goes, but is most obvious when cold in R or D with the brake applied. I have a few questions.1. If I let it go, will it eventually fail? I have a road trip where I'll be putting about 1k on it in about 3 weeks. I could do it beforehand if necessary, but would prefer to wait for cost reasons. I'm doing all 4 struts, ball joints, wheel bearings, etc this weekend and it's already costing a fortune.and finally,2. From what I've read, the cheap Autozone pulley just uses some limp spring to control belt tension. Would it be possible, and I'm not sure since I haven't looked at it yet, to build a different tensioning device similar in size to the hydraulic unit, and install that in the place of the crappy hydraulic one? I'm thinking of making it out of some sort of a compression spring, similar to one used for engine valves. I have to really take a look under the hood since it's been a while since I've messed with it.

[BlueCrush]

I let mine go for 6 months before having it replaced under warranty. During that time it did get a little louder. So, I think if left for a year or more it might fail during use, but your one 3 week trip should be fine. Also, look on Ebay for belt tensioners(pulley & shock), I have seen them for under $50 new.

[wyldejackyl]

So you don't think it's worth messing with the shock at all? I'm willing to bet that's what's causing the problem (again). The last time it failed, it made a similar, but not exactly the same, noise. These things should easily last 100k. I'm at about 110 now and the last one was changed sometime in the 60-80k area.

[ragingfish]

Can't speak from personal experience, but thought I read somewhere these are supposed to be an excellent OEM replacement: http://www.gates.com/part_loca...32684Don't hold me to that however!!