The INA tensioner arrived today, installed it, no more chirp. It's marked "Slovakia" and has the torx head fastener holding the pulley. It doesn't come with a dust cover, and the original cover won't fit.
Bazar - when you put the belt back on, did you just pull the pin on the tensioner, or did you use a t-50 bit to rotate ccw, then pull the pin?
When I started researching this, I came across a bunch of threads with people complaining about stripped torx head screws - now I understand. The torx bit engagement is somewhat shallow. Combined with the fastener head being moved away from the plane of rotation of the tensioner, I can see what a pain in the ass removing the belt is going to be now. Before, I was using a 16mm socket with an 18" breaker bar and rotating the tensioner was easy. I tried using a 3/8" long handled flex head ratchet (as the t-50 bit is 3/8" drive), and I was barely able to get enough rotation to free the pin. I tried the 18" 1/2" drive breaker bar with an adapter, but that just makes the situation worse, as the bit slipped out of the torx fastener. And that's a sure fire way to strip it. Maybe the answer is a 3/8" breaker bar, to get closer to the torx head, with a pipe over the handle. Maybe I can manipulate the tensioner somehow with a long pry bar instead?
I don't suppose that either of you would have an old tensioner laying around with the torx head fastener? I'm curious as to whether the old LH hex head bolt could replace the new torx head (which is also LH). Now I'm wishing that I had taken the impact wrench and removed the torx head, just to see what's what, but I wanted to get the car back on the road. |