Do you know how many timing belts I've had to "redo" because the owner decided to pull off the cover and wiggle the timing belt? He then comes to me saying his tensioner is bad and needs to be replaced. Find out after pulling it off to see it was replaced only a few years ago (the date is stamped on all mitsu tensioners) and barely has 30K on it or something...
Where to begin...
Our motors are quad-cams. Each gear pulls or pushes the timing belt in a certain direction meaning that, depending on where each cam gear sits, there's always going to be slack somewhere and there's always going to be tension in another. This is because of the way the cam timing is setup.
The hydrolic tensioner is setup to adjust back and forth to make up for this change in slack all around. If you ever get a chance, start the motor and run it without the timing belt covers on. This way you can observe its behavior while reving the motor. You'll see it move back and forth as the motor turns over.
The timing marks are positioned in a place where you can neutrally set the tension when doing a t-belt change. The only way I can think of to properly test the tension is to line up the marks and see if you can stick a pin in it.
In other words, simply removing the front cover and wiggling the belt is NOT the best way to test the tension because if the slack happens to fall in the area where you are wiggling, you could risk having the cam "jump" a few teeth. We only charge $195 to repair this.
Don't believe me? If you find it's loose in that area, turn your motor over a bit with the starter a bit then go back. You'll notice it's much tighter. This is because the slack has moved else where down the line.
GTMNT WIGGLE MY TIMING BELT!
Just leave it alone and replace it every 60K or 6 years.
