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Tensioner Pulley Touches Timing Cover

12K views 29 replies 14 participants last post by  nall_one  
#1 ·
Hey Guys,

Just wondering how many of you have switched the tensioner pulleys on your 4.6L Engines. I ordered the Goodyear tensioner pulley from Rockauto but when i put it on the tensioner and piece everything back together it touches the Timing Cover. The stock ford one fits no problem and doesnt touch the cover at all. Am i doing anything wrong here?

I noticed rockauto messed up on the tensioner and idler that i ordered. they sent me two idlers (one ford and one goodyear) but when i check the goodyear one works as a tensioner and idler. The only difference i see is that the goodyear specs say is 31.1mm instead of 31mm. I dont think that difference is big at all.

HELP!
lol

Thanks
Kyle
 
#2 ·
I put on a new Ford one last weekend. No problems at all. Came off easy, went on easy. no touching problems what so ever. Might be the Goodyear tensioner.
 
#3 ·
thats so messed up. Well im just replacing the pulley on the ford tensioner. maybe they want me to buy the goodyear tensioner? But rockauto messed up on the branding of hte parts as well. Ive read some people having to shim the tensioner away from the timing cover. But i dont want to do any shimming just incase the belt decides to slip off or anything. I just got a gatorback belt and i dont wanna screw it up. lol
 
#4 ·
I heard of people breaking theirs trying to get the old one off, so I opted for a new one. I woulda bought a ford one. My origional tensioner 153 thousand miles. I doubt the car will make it to 306 thousand miles before I move on.
 
#6 ·
Nah, this came off fairly simple, three bolts hold it to the timing cover. It comes off as a complete assembly. But the thing is if i place my old tensioner pulley back on it clears the timing cover. Its so screwed up.

The pulley is installed correctly. I only order parts from rockauto because the prices in canada are completely f'd up.
 
#5 ·
Maybe a dumb question, but do you have the pulley installed correctly? I didn't even bother ordering mine through Rock Auto. I just went to Advance Auto Parts and got the pulley there.
 
#13 ·
Yea, thats what I did. I removed the tensioner arm and removed the pulley, i put the tensioner arm with new pulley back on and the pulley is touching the timing cover now. There was no issues with removing the stock pulley.

There is no advantage, Rockauto didn't have a ford tensioner pulley so I ordered the goodyear one.

Im beginning to thing maybe i need to buy the goodyear tensioner to match the goodyear pulley. Im not sure.
 
#14 ·
The dimensions that I've measured for the goodyear pulley are 76mm x (31.0mm - 31.5mm). I dont have a digital caliper to measure it that accurately, but its a little bit over the 31mm mark. On rockauto every other pulley is 31 - 30.5mm wide which will make up for the difference of it touching. It seems that 1mm is probably all it needs to clear. The stock tensioner pulley is a little under 31mm. It looks like a 30.5mm width pulley x 76mm.

According to the rockauto listing the pulley on the goodyear tensioner arm assembly's pulley is measured up at 30.5mm compared to the Goodyear tensioner pulley by itself, measured @ 31.1mm(listing width). The proof is there on the listing that there is a difference in pulley width by 0.6mm I swear that little difference seems like the diff between it rubbing or not.

I have a service e-mail open with Rockauto on this one. hopefully they can help me on this as well.
 
#15 ·
It won't be the first part that the 3rd party cross is wrong on.

I'm using old parking brake cables on the Malibu after the disc brake conversion - all the ones RockAuto stocked were 3" too short to fit (!!).

RwP
 
#16 ·
Well im kinda scared to get my rebuild parts from them, Im ordering everything from rockauto because no one in Canada can beat their prices.

Ive placed MANY orders with them but lately they have just been sloppy with their work.

-Mustang gas tank that was processed twice (They tried charging me twice for only shipping 1 gas tank to me)

-Incorrect suspension links shipped (not the right ones for a 96 Cougar)

-Different brand of upper control arm was put in a new MOOG branded box and shipped along with a NEW Moog arm.

-Tensioner Pulley/Idler Pulley Mixup
 
#17 ·
In RA's defense on the "different brand of Upper Control arm" thing - the local Advance Auto's been hit like that also.

RwP
 
#19 ·
I work at an auto parts store. You should see the amount of people try to return their USED OLD parts (control arms, tie rods, spark plugs and wires, ignition coils, and a lot of relays) in the new boxes. Sometimes the cashiers don't check boxes... I check everything before it goes back on the shelf and we've probably handed away about 5k in parts due to incompetent cashiers.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Ohhh yeah. I work part time at Home Depot and occasionally work the returns counter. People returning used garbage for new. And guess what... company policy REQUIRES that we take it all back! Used goods, stolen goods (e.g. people returning about 20 lbs of plumbing solder at once). I got a used toilet wax ring back once, and another good one I remember... some dude returned a log splitter because it "wouldn't start". So I pulled the pull string gently, and a horrid clanking sound accompanied it. So I glance at the service manual packet, and THE MOTOR OIL BOTTLE IS STILL IN IT, UNTOUCHED. :zbash:
 
#20 ·
Ok so this is the e-mail between me and the customer service rep.

Hello Benjamin,

There is quite the confusion on the invoice that I have received so I will try my best to tell you all the information I have here. I understand that there can be problems around the warehouse listings/paper work, also with the manufacturer specs. I hope that there can be a reasonable conclusion to all of this.

On the paper work that i have here it says that a Goodyear Tensioner pulley was shipped to me #49006, but i physically have recieved a ford tensioner pulley with different part numbers on the box and the part itself. To add to the confusion, the paperwork says a Ford Idler pulley was sent when i revieved a Goodyear Idler pulley. The goodyear box lists it as a Idler pulley as well. Do you have a 49006 Goodyear box that says "Tensioner pulley" physically on the description of the box from the manufacturer?

According to the listing you have and what goodyear has on their website the #49006 should work as a tensioner and idler pulley. The dimensions that I've measured for the goodyear pulley are 76mm x (31.0mm - 31.5mm). I dont have a digital caliper to measure it that accurately, but its a little bit over the 31mm mark. On your website every other pulley is 31 - 30.5mm wide which will make up for the difference of it touching. It seems that 1mm is probably all it needs to clear. The stock tensioner pulley is a little under 31mm. It looks like a 30.5mm width pulley x 76mm. I'm not able to measure the 17mm section due to a lack of measuring tools. Ive asked around the Thunderbird, Cougar, and Mustang clubs; some people have had this problem as well. They solved the issue by either shimming their stock ford tensioner arm away from the timing cover (which I'm not comfortable with due to debris going in between the tensioner and timing cover), replacing the ford tensioner with a goodyear tensioner to match their good year pulley (see below paragraph for explanation), or grinding the timing cover down (which I'm also not comfortable with doing because the timing cover is a difficult and costly repair if something breaks on it).

I have also noticed the AC Delco branded tensioner pulley listed for my vehicle is 30.5mm. Can we either ship this AC Delco #38006 pulley or a Goodyear tensioner arm #49236? According to the rockauto listing the pulley on the goodyear tensioner arm assembly's pulley is measured up at 30.5mm compared to the Goodyear tensioner pulley by itself, measured @ 31.1mm. The proof is there on the listing that there is a difference in pulley width by 0.6mm. I would prefer if I could receive the Goodyear belt tensioner assembly #49236 instead, due to the pulley width difference as is listed.

I hope this information does help in fixing this issue, maybe for future reference it can be mentioned in the part description that there is, in fact a difference between pulleys and tensioners. I think that goodyear should be made aware of this difference.

Thanks
Kyle


_______________________________________

Dear Kyle,

Thank you for your response. I have done some digging into this and my final conclusion is that you are correct, the Goodyear Part # 49006 will not work as a tensioner pulley on your Cougar, as it is too wide, and thus would be an idler pulley for the car. The Goodyear catalog does appear to show that the part is both a tensioner and idler pulley, but this information is contradictory both to their buyers guide, and the application specifics provided by all other manufactures we carry.

Subsequent to the listing error in Goodyear's catalog it ended up an error in ours as well. Since this was an error that was outside your control we would not want to send you a second of that part, as it would be the exact same as the first. We cannot reship an alternate part in place of a part ordered due to inventory issues, as a result we are going to have to issue you a full refund on the incorrect tensioner pulley, for the value of the part, any outbound shipping and taxes associated with it. The refund will be issued within three days and we will email when this has happened.

To question the issue you have run into with the "Ford" part/part numbers. I am not sure if you are aware that Motorcraft is Ford Parts sister company, thus they will often list both, or only one of the Ford or Motorcraft part numbers. The Motorcraft Part # YS245 should be the correct idler pulley for your car, was there any issues with that part fitting? If not we are happy that the issue with this order was isolated to the Goodyear part, but if indeed there are any issues with that part please let us know.

As of now we are needing nothing further from you, unless you have issues with the Motorcraft part. The refund on the Goodyear part will be issued within three days and we will email when this has happened. The refund will be issued without needing you to send the part back to us.

Please let us know if you have additional questions and we will be happy to help. Thanks again for shopping with us at RockAuto, have a great day!

Thank you,

Benjamin
RockAuto Customer Service
 
#21 ·
Rock Auto's customer service is great from what I read here. But I read some online reviews of RA, and they got 2.5 outta 5 on Customer Service. I have yet to complain about them personally. They sent me new plug wires after one of the ones they shipped came broke. And they sent me a new pair free of charge and even let me keep the old ones!
 
#28 ·
96 Project bird, I have always wondered WTF is up with lifetime warranty brakes. When I first heard of people returning pads because the friction material wore off, I thought they were joking, but apparently lots of people do this. I thought it only covered defects (cracked friction material, warped plates, squeaking friction,) but material that is designed to wear? That is just ridiculous. What store do you work at if you dont mind me asking. I have heard of people returning worn out pads to autozone with no worries, and it still just blows my mind.

^^ No he didnt put it on backwards, the rockauto guy found out that there was an error in the goodyear catalog. The moral of the story is to stick with motorcraft as much as you can :)
 
#29 ·
the guarantee only covers manufacturing defects. So if the clips that come on the back of some pads break off, or the friction material cracks. Basically if the brake pad fails for no reason. Not if you wore them down to the damn caliper piston and they broke apart. I've had pads literally crumble in my hands when there was maybe 1k on them.
 
#30 ·
i saw that same issue on the 98 5.4 we got out of a E250 for my uncles truck, when we got the tensioner off, it had worn a circle in the timing cover, and made a heck of a racket when you turned it by hand... i cant imagine the guy that drove the van before wouldn't have herd it.

i know the 5.4 idlers are bigger for a wider belt though, but i swapped the old one from the locked up motor in the truck, and it fit fine >.> same size, it turned out the arm was a little bent :confused: