Timming belt fix

KIA Sportage Timming belt problems????
(Actually it’s not a problem, it’s piss poor design.)

We discovered that Sportage timing belt has a “Tension Pulley” that is not actually
used as a tension pulley ????? I went to KIA and the maintenance manager let me
dig thru the actual maintenance manual for the Sportage. According to the book, the “Tension Pulley” is only used during assembly or belt replacement. The spring is designed to put the proper amount of tension on the belt while you rotate the engine two complete revolutions by hand. If the belt is still properly tensioned, then you are instructed to “tighten the bolt for the tension pulley”. THIS LOCKS THE TENSION PULLEY IN PLACE AND DISABLES ANY AFFECT THE SPRING WAS HAVING. The belt will now run properly, but only until it stretches a little, then it gets loose and causes more problems.

This is why there are so many timing belt problems on these vehicles. THERE IS NO FUNCTIONAL TIMING BELT TENSION PULLEY IN THE SYSTEM. The belt is simply tightened like an old 1970s fan belt and allowed to run until it gets lose or breaks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well that is absolutely true ---you can read this ---http://www.geocities.com/lmp4203/kiasport/TimingBelt.zip

and in fact it tells what to do to avoid being stranded in the middle of nowhere and confirms the fact that it is recommended to change the belt after 70,000 miles. just reajusting the belt at that time might be enough....but once you are there, there is no reason not to install a new belt...it is not that expensive.
The practice of a fix setting is not rare though, but the "tensioner" in other cases is adjustable from the outside of the belt cover....

I am in the middle of changing the timing belt on my KIA Sportage and since this is the first time I have done open hart surgery on a car I have some questions before I close her up. The following are STEPS 5 – 9 of the instructions that I have for installing the timing belt on my Sportage.
Install new belt but leave tensioner free.
Turn engine in direction of rotation twice to insure everything remains lined up.:banghead:
Loosen tensioner lock bolt so tensioner goes against the belt
Turn engine so the 'S' mark on the exhaust cam aligns with the mark on the top of the head and then tighten the tensioner lock bolt.
It's done, except to put everything back together.In step six, when I tried to turn the engine (by hand) I could not keep all the gears lined up, the belt is loose-fitting and gears move out of place, so I have undone the tensioner lock bolt at this time (before step 6) allowing the tensioner to hold the belt in place on the sprockets, and then I rotated the engine twice by hand, Is this OK?
If so then what is the reason for step eight? Am I screwing anything up by undoing the tensioner lock bolt so tensioner goes against the belt before step 8?


Once again thank you all for the Help!!!

:screwy:Really I am not blond, just confused…

According to the book, the ‘Tension Pulley’ is only used during assembly or belt replacement. The spring is designed to put the proper amount of tension on the belt while you rotate the engine two complete revolutions by hand.


:banghead:
The above statement implies that the nut that locks the ‘Tension Pulley’ should be loose in order to put the proper amount of tension on the belt while you rotate the engine, however the instillation instructions state that you should leave the tensioner free until you have, turned the engine in direction of rotation twice to insure everything remains lined up and then Loosen the tensioner lock bolt so the tensioner goes against the belt and then tighten the tensioner lock bolt after you have Turned the engine so the 'S' mark on the exhaust cam aligns with the mark on the top of the head.