The seat belt tensioner is an important component of your car, such as wheel bearings, wheel hubs and engine mounts. You must make sure that it is working properly, otherwise it will affect the overall performance of your car. A defective tensioner must be replaced or repaired immediately.
What is a belt tensioner?
The drive belt tensioner is a pulley mounted on a spring mechanism or an adjustable pivot point, which is used to maintain the tension of the engine belts. Spring tensioners are designed for automatic tensioning, while hinge design types can be manually adjusted. Both are used to maintain tension on engine serpentine belts, so various engine accessories can move smoothly.
What does it do?
The serpentine belt in your engine compartment is wound around various components, such as an alternator, power steering pump, water pump, air conditioning compressor and much more. The tensioner is responsible for ensuring that the belt creates sufficient tension when the vehicle is moving, so the various pulleys that drive the engine components can move smoothly.
What parts is a tensioner made of?
The drive belt tension consists of four main parts – the base, the tensioner lever, the spring and the pulley. The base holds the other parts, and the spring holds the belt taut. The pulley facilitates the movement of the belt. The tensioner lever is located at the bottom of the tensioner, and if you push it, it will work against the spring, providing sufficient loosening so that you can adjust or remove the belt.
What happens when a tensioner malfunctions?
As already mentioned, when the tensioner encounters a problem, it affects how the belts drive the pulleys, which in turn affects the performance and functionality of the car. For example, if the belt tension is too low, the belt slips and leads to very high temperatures and premature wear of the belt, which can lead to poor performance of the belt driven accessories. On the other hand, if the tension is too high, belt-driven accessories run the risk of excessive wear.
In no case do not adjust the drive belt tensioner yourself – independent work is strictly prohibited! Since the serpentine belt is critical to the functionality of the car, you are likely to encounter many problems due to improperly adjusted tensioners, which can lead to an accident. Always contact professionals to get a belt tensioner, wheel hub or any other part serviced or replaced – they have experience in solving such problems and will be able to solve them without damaging other components.
-Jack Wilson