Hi,

I have a 2009 Fit Sport with 106K miles on it, and have never had a single problem with it (at least until now ). I keep up with all of the maintenance myself, and this site has helped me out quite a bit - especially when I changed the brake fluid a few months ago.

I decided to change the serpentine belt a couple of weeks ago. It didn't appear cracked or anything, but at over 100K miles I figured that it would be a good idea to change it anyways. It was a MAJOR pain in the rear, but I managed to pull it off on my own.

The problem is that the tensioner pulley almost immediately started making a dull, whiny noise after I changed the belt. Sometimes it goes away for a while, but it is pretty consistent. The pulley seems to have a tiny bit of wobble in it at idle (its so small that I can't help but to think it may not be an issue). To be on the safe side, I ordered a replacement pulley and will install it after it comes in the mail.

I was just wondering if anybody else has had a problem with their tensioner pulley. I searched the forums and there isn't much on it (or drive belts at all, for that matter). It just makes me a lot more comfortable if I see a bunch of people with the same problem. Also, does anybody know why changing the belt could have damaged the pulley? I checked the tension of the belt and it is perfect.

 

subscribed for interest since I have to this myself....

 

A lot of cars have maintenance items that are designed for one time use. Rotors that don't get turned and calipers that get replaced at brake changes. Possible that the pulley is designed to be replaced when the belt goes. My Chevy went through pulley changes when I changed the belt on it. Pain in the rear, but maintenance costs don't seem to be what manufacturers care about.

 

Could be that the belt length was off by enough putting the tensioner in a position and under a load it was never designed for. Was it a Honda belt? If not what was exact part you bought? Did you compare the old and new belts before installing? Any complications in installing the new belt where you had to overextend the tensioner to get the new belt on?

I just bought a new Dayco belt last week to have on hand for a swap out when needed later (currently only 64K miles). Now I'm thinking I might order a tensioner also to replace at the same time. What is p/n and price of Honda tensioner?

_

 

I bought the belt, a goodyear gatorback (part #4050448), from Rockauto. I compared the belts before installing and they appeared to be the same length. It was very tough to put on, however, even with the tensioner fully retracted. I could get the belt only partially on, then I had to turn the motor over for a split second to get it to jump the rest of the way on. Although new belts are supposed to be tight, it did seem that this one was a little too tight. So I checked the tension guage as called for in the service manual and it was perfect (engine stopped and at idle).

I bought numbers 3, 4, and 5 on this page:

AUTO TENSIONER for 2009 HONDA FIT

 

I personally would of went with factory belt instead of the aftermarket gator. From past experiences the factory $26 Japanese Mitsuboshi belt has better rubber quality then the American made Dayco or Goodyear ones.

 

Any update or solution?

 

The solution is pretty much listed in my last response. I replaced the tensioner pulley and the noise went away. The only weird thing was that the old pulley, once pulled out, tested fine and turned smoothly. So who knows what was going on.

 

this is normal. not just for fits but other hondas that use the auto tensioner, start to make noise and wobble at around 100k miles. to be clear, NOT ALL.

 

Mine makes a little noise occasionally at 97k miles. I just ignore it since the whole car makes noise, why not just add another one

Belt tension is fine, still in the acceptable range from the markings on the tensioner and it doesn't jump around at all.

 

This makes me wonder if the belt was the same length. Granted, a new belt will be more stiff than the old one, but having to do the above should not be necessary. Once the belt is properly seated on each pulley, it should easily slide under the tensioner pulley with no issues...new or old.

I'm thinking that perhaps the belt was not seated on one of the pulleys...and using the engine to force the belt on may have over stressed the tensioner. So...since you replaced with a new tensioner, did you have the same issue? Every time I replace a belt, I always have another person keeping the belt properly seated on two individual pulleys...so that I can concentrate on the others. If the belt is sitting on the edge rim of a pulley, I will be very difficult to do the final pulley.

 

Perhaps the bearings of the tensioner pulley. Normally it should last more.

 

So I ordered a Gatorback and a Dayco belt for this car....total price for both was about $26 dollars...

I should have gone OEM but $26 plus $8 shipping was the cheapest I found, dealers wanted $40 in the NY/NJ area to make some profit of it.


Pain in the ass to replace but the gatorback went on easily enough. 2 weeks later I heard a light chirping sound that would only happen when accelerating. Decided to check this morning and noticed it would start after I would start using the ac.

Checked under the hood and noticed the arrow was out of the range it shoud be in and more towards the back of the car. So I jacked it up tensioner moved well enough and put on the dayco....

Note: harbor frieght tool for this job doesnt have an 18mm...matter of fact I had to use a 3/4 combo wrench to move the tensioner and ALOT of sustained arm power.

Another note: the dayco was much harder to put on....needed help on that one.

I'm thinking the goodyear gatorbacks arent good for our cars (keep in mind it was closout on rockauto so maybe there is something about it).

Started the engine let it idle for 5 min and notice the arrow on the tensioner is bouncing a bit...hope this is normal.....is it???

So I'll be watching this closely over this week and if necessary I'll have to order a replacement tensioner ,which would suck since at 119k the old belt was looking good and the arrow was in range, just thought to replace the belt as a precaution.....and may end up leading to more repair than I had bargained for...

let me know if the bouncing tensioner is normal when any of you get a change.....

Thanks!

 

It is normal for it to move a tiny bit, but shouldn't be dramatic. I mean if it's bouncing from one end of the range to the other that's not good. Tensioner is probably going bad. I know I am going to change mine when I change my belt here in a little bit.

 

Thanks for the response...I'm hoping others get on and cosign your opinion.....

I found an oem one and have it in my cart and will purchase by the end of the week after monitoring mine for a few days.

Kinda sucks when preventative maintence on one part leads to replacing other parts, even if they are related. $15 part leads to the purchase of a $100 part....

Thanks again!

 

Always put a new quality tensioner pulley on when you change the belt. Its not worth the headaches.

 

I never heard this advice before, so I hope others chime in.

I'm not disagreeing with you, my Canadian brother. I don't know much about much. But this one is new to me.

 

Sometimes just changing the belt will be fine but often in short order you will noise from the tensioner. The tensioner is a glorified spring and it has to change its length with a new belt. There is also a bearing. Most of the oem belts will go 10 years and 85000 miles - thats what mine was at. Amazing durability. By changing the tensioner and belt together I noticed the engine noise was less and my power steering was a bit lighter. This would indicate I was back to brand new status. Why put on a new belt just to have the tensioner fail in a few months you have to do it all over again. My total project cost was 120 and 40 minutes. Also FYI to get at the belt we removed the motor mount it was five minutes and five bolts and created a ton of room and made the job much easier. None of the how to videos recommend this but my buddy who is a ticketed mechanic of 35 years said this is common practice.

 

Very interesting. I'm going to have a look at the service manual and see if I can figure out how to do this. Thanks.

 

If you don't have problem with the tensionner, don't touch it.

On my Accord, at the first belt change, I also replaced the tensionner. Had a faulty unit that lasted only couple of months before having noises. Replaced it again with an aftermarket unit, which also lasted a very short time. Had to replace it again with an OEM to at least have quiet and peace.

So, from my experience, if you don't have problem, don't touch it.