I have been through this one in Spades! On my V6 the timing belt drives the water pump on the smooth/back side of the belt. When the hydraulic tensioner starts giving up you begin to overheat, because your water pump is not being driven well (one side of my radiator was hot, the other cold). The beauty is the hydraulic belt tensioner is accessible through the wheel well with two bolts. Pull the wheel and you're there. My Haynes manual specifies the pushrod should extend 10-11 mm or it will not be tightening your timing belt. I had to learn this the hard way & then almost missed it. The tensioner was about $80, but a simple fix. I changed thermostat, radiator, water pump & timing belt, searching for the culprit.
Friday, September 11th, 2009 AT 8:56 PM
