I got off of work around 0630 on June 9. I decided I should go ahead and get the car ready for Autocross on Sunday (hopefully). The day started out intending to do an oil change and installing a Fumoto oil drain valve.
Well, I was basically done with the oil change in no time, had that valve all installed then I thought to myself: “I’ve had a brand new tensioner on my shelf for years. I would really like to replace it.â€
Some of you may remember some may not; years ago I was trying to swap the tensioner, but was never able to find the right size Allen/Torx head for the bolt, because the factory bolt was all stripped out. I never could get anything to work, and shops told me they couldn’t do anything about it. Perfect.
So, I got to work, drilling out the bolt to use an ease-out sort of tool. But that bolt was so stuck in place; it refused to move, until one of my extractors broke inside. Great. In case you did not know, those extractors are typically made of very strong hardened metals, and I was not able to get in the area with anything else. So, that led to the next logical step. Cut the entire tensioner off around the bolt, then grab the bolt with vice-grips or similar and remove it.
Long story short, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, great success!
Then I decided: “Well, I already have the belt off, maybe I should replace it. But, I think it’s leaking from the front main seal, better go ahead and do that.â€
So I ended up pulling the harmonic balancer (barely, found out the pulling holes were stripped, I re-tapped those later), pulling the seal and replacing it.
I have done that seal a few times, but now that I have a Ford service manual, I see I was leaving out a critical step. I never put silicone in the key-way slot on the pulley. This time, I loaded it up and it seems to have worked great.
I let it run in the driveway for about 40 mins, and I did not see any leaking from the Fumoto valve, or from the front main seal, so I am hoping that fixed that major leak I’ve been dealing with for years!
While I was idling to check for leaks, I decided to investigate why the A/C went out. The system just ended up being so low the compressor would not cycle well enough to suck up refrigerant. My neighbor brought over a full set of gauges and we were able to get some juice into the system. I am proud to say this thing is blowing cold enough to make me chilly in the summer in Florida! Has not been able to do that for quite some time!
But alright, I know this is a bunch of words, and Forum people don’t read. So, pics as promised:
Fumoto valve installed. For those who don’t know, I thought I may have been leaking from my drain bolt. Factory recommends that the bolt be changed on every oil change, but we all know that does not happen. I also don’t like having to undo the bolt all the time from the aluminum pan. This should preserve the threads for years to come and make oil changes that much easier.
Using the Sawzall to cut the tensioner to pieces, hell yeah!
In case you were wondering, your tensioner looks like this inside. We spent a great deal of time sawing, chiseling, prying and hammering to get to this point.
This is the culprit. Hard to tell in the pic but it was slightly bent. You can clearly see how messed up the head of the bolt was.
I was able to find an exact replacement at Ace with a nice new 10mm Allen key head. Made the replacement of the tensioner quite easy! It's an M12x1.75 in case anyone ever needs one!
Balancer out of the way.
After running for about 40 mins it still looked like this. Woo!
Anyhow, it’s been a while since I did a walk-around video. So here one is. You can all hear the ol’ V6 so I can get made fun of.
https://youtu.be/0peNP1pta-M
On the same note. I have been getting a very bad vibration between about 30-45. Very symptomatic of being a wheel out of balance. Took the car to Wally World (it was late!) and they tried to check the balance, but told me the tires were worn so they couldn't......
So, I will be trying to get that sorted out later today. Then a little more prepping for hopefully Autocross on Sunday. Cleaning the inside of the windshield really well, and making sure all of the suspension is locked down. I might try to get my brake proportioning valve all set too.