[alfa] RE: mechanical tensioners

[Brad Anesi <brad.anesi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Peter's points are well taken, but what I am talking about is the spring
failure on the mechanical tensioner, as identified on Mark's page.  (Mark,
can you re-post the direct link for that picture again?  I can't seem to
locate it from your home page.)  Regardless of how correctly the tensioner
was installed, once this spring fails there will be a dramatic reduction in
belt tension and you're just about doomed to have the belt slip, trashing
your head in the process.  I have seen first-hand a failure like this that
trashed an 800-mile old port&polished head.  I have heard of several other
situations with similar failures.  My best guess is that Dug will report
back to us on such a failure, but let's wait and see. 

I am told by a knowledgeable source that the "new and improved" mechanical
tensioner was in fact, used throughout the world, and was NOT just a
USA-distributed part.  I realize this goes against what Keith had indicated.
Can any of the folks in Europe or Australia confirm?

Brad

---------------------------------
From: "Peter L. Krause" <pkrause@domain.elided>
We've installed well over 100 mechanical tensioners without difficulty or
failure (that I know of) in the last several years. I have repaired many
cars that had the tensioners installed and tensioned incorrectly. The
Canadian Fiat-Lancia Industriale tensioner works just fine. I'm not familiar
with this so-called "fixed" tensioner on the 24V cars. It is adjustable at
belt installation and functions well if installed correctly, although belt
change interval should be 25-30K miles instead of 50K miles, IMHO. The
failure mode I've heard of with the mechanical tensioner has to do with the
car rolling backwards in gear...
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided