Can an incorrectly tensioned timing belt emit a rattle/judder type noise when cold?
it goes away after ~1min or so.

car is mitsubishi mirage. timing belt was done 45,000k's ago.
it uses a spring tensioner.

Thanks

some one posted not long ago, about a rattle thinking it was their exhaust, but turned out to be their belt tensioner

it could be a number of things that are in that area. in my case it was the bearings in my power steering tensioner pulley.

and theres been a few people who have had the same noise, but it was a different problem. so yeh, its a bit hard to tell unless you actually get behind the covers where the timing belt is and have a look.

It could be, spring tensionor should not have any more tension than that of the spring. Generally you remove the spark plugs, fit the belt, turn the engine over by had a few times and do the sucker up.

Do you know if they replaced the tensionor, it should always be replaced.

thanks for the replies.

i did the belt, but didn't do the tensioner. not usually needed to be, except hydraulic items.

sleeepy now, will post exactly what happened 2moro. :redface:

Can an incorrectly tensioned timing belt emit a rattle/judder type noise when cold?
it goes away after ~1min or so.

car is mitsubishi mirage. timing belt was done 45,000k's ago.
it uses a spring tensioner.

Thanks

I would think that if it was the belt, the noise would be constant, and not go once the engine is warmed up

thanks for all the replies, i've still to look at it further, been quite busy

Hi, I have a TJ magna, and it had a rattle on startup, actually it had it form about 50,000kms, I had the cambelt changed a couple of weeks back, along with the hydraulic tensioner and wala the noise is gone. When you started the car it would rattle straight away, then turn it off and restart and noise would be gone.
The tensioner was always the prime suspect despite what Mitsi told me, whoever heard of a tensioner going before the belt? one thing I noticed was when the engine was dead cold, I took off the cambelt cover and checked the belt tension - it was as sloppy as. Ran the engine for a minute and then checked again and the belt was tight again.
Now with new belt and tensioner, I checked it again cold this morning, and belt tension was tight, ran for a minute and checked again, no difference.

So maybe if you check your tension with engine cold and then start and recheck to see if there is any difference.

You always change the tensionor when you change the belt, there is no reason to leave the old one there at all.

Start here and eliminate this