What does the tension pulley do?
A travel belt tensioner is a pulley mounted on a spring mechanism or adjustable pivot point that is used to keep tension on the engine belts. … Both are being used to keeptension on the engine serpentine belts so that they can drive the various engine accessories.
How do you adjust a tensioner pulley?
Flip the adjustment bolt privately, top or bottom of the pulley counterclockwise with the ratchet and socket before equipment belt is loose enough to remove. Tighten the tensioner pulley by turning the adjustment bolt clockwise with the ratchet and socket before belt is tight.
How do I know
A tensioner pulley tutorials the belt around the tensioner and allows the belt to spin as the tensioner maintains pressure against it. A failing tensioner pulley can cause power loss and damage to your belt-driven devices. You may have a failing tensioner pulley if you hear any squeaking or squealing beneath the hood. Bearings on the pulley can wear out, causing noise and temperature. Pulleys are usually manufactured from either plastic or metallic, so verify the pulley itself for just about any damage as well. At O’Reilly Automobile Parts, we’ve tensioner pulleys designed for many vehicle models.
The computerized pulley tensioner comes with an internal spring-loaded mechanism that keeps the serpentine belt under continuous tension. Its design permits it to keep the serpentine belt taut, to ensure that the other equipment pulleys rotate at the same rpm (revolutions each and every minute) while beneath the same safe pressure. Tensioner pulleys can also absorb moderate shock loads that happen when the air conditioning unit cuts on and off. As a constantly rotating aspect, the pulley tensioner can give off some indicators before failure.
Rust and Corrosion
The pulley tensioner sits subjected to the elements at the front end of the engine. Subjected to puddled water “splash-up,” with time the tensioner arm and pulley system can rust. Rust can freeze the programmed tensioner device or rot the shaft bearings, that will cause a frozen situation in the adjustment pressure. Without the proper tension, the belt can slide.
Debris Contamination
Rocks, gravel and other road debris can be thrown up in to the tensioner pulley grooves and jam the device. This can allow the 
serpentine belt to slip on the tensioner pulley and burn. Overheated pulley heat range results, and eventually the serpentine belt will melt and snap off.
Pulley Tensioner Spring
The pulley tensioner spring inside housing may become weak from age and repeated exposure to heat. This triggers the belt to flutter and skip instead of maintaining a constant pressure on the pulley. Symptoms of a weak spring demonstrate as glazing on the underside of the serpentine belt, with an occasional flickering of the dashboard’s charging light indicator. Squealing or squeaking will end up being read at the belt site.
Pulley Wobble
If the tensioner pulley wobbles on its shaft, it means the inside shaft bearings have worn. This may cause a pulley misalignment. Awful bearings trigger an audible growling noise. The outer ends of the serpentine belt will fray and stretch out the belt. Sooner or later the rubberized belt grooves flatten out and cause major slippage. An excessively wobbling pulley can toss the belt off, triggering all the components to quit functioning.
Lever Arm Freeplay
Some tensioner pulleys possess markings on the casing that indicate the maximum selection that the pulley can travel. If the lever arm of the tensioner rides under or over the designated mark, this implies a stretched belt or a lever arm which has jammed in a single position.
Pulley Misaligment
The tensioner pulley face must match to the other accessory pulleys with a parallel alignment. Placing a long, straightedge ruler against the face of the tensioner pulley, and then flushing it against another accessory pulley, can gauge the angle. Any off-angle measurement indicates put on shaft bearings in the pulley casing.
Serpentine Belt Noise
A moderately donned serpentine belt produces a constant squeaking noise during engine idle. Belts which have worn severely project a loud chirping or squealing appear. The cause details to a glazed, put on or cracked belt. Dried out or partially frozen tensioner pulley bearings can cause such sounds by deteriorating the belt prematurely.
Lever Arm Oscillation
A lever arm that repeatedly oscillates backwards and forwards during idle or higher speeds means the the within damper mechanism in the tensioner pulley has weakened or broken. This causes sporadic tension pressure on the belt and can manifest itself with intermittent chirping sounds.