Timing Belt Tensioner Pulley Bolt Stripped

sven · Post by **sven** » 18 Mar 2011, 06:40

Ugh. Well I stripped the Torx bolt on the tensioner pulley. What would be the best plan of attack to remove this? I thought about using my angle grinder to chop the front part off and slide it off, but the grinder is way to big to fit that small of a space.

Oh and BTW, the 200k original tensioner was covered in oil and some weird silicone stuff. I tried to compress the pin in a vise but the pin is locked solid. Thankfully I have all new volvo TB kit from tasca.

pablosvolvohaus · Post by **pablosvolvohaus** » 18 Mar 2011, 07:31

Hi Swan,

I just went through this. Dam poor design. Hole should have been deeper in bolt head for better grip. Anyway, here is what I did to get it off. You will need a good quality hacksaw blade (i used and 18Tx12"), a pair of vice-grips, and about an hour of time. Place the hacksaw blade in the grove between the washer and the idler arm casting. and saw down the grove until you cut through the washer to the bolt head. Now take the vice-grips and rotate the washer 20 degrees or so to be able to saw through more of the washer. just keep doing this until you go all the way around the bolt. The washer should fall off and you can grip the outer edge of the bolt head with the vise-grips, like you did the washer. Now just back out the bolt.

Why this works. The washer is shaped like a soup bowl with a wide brim and the bolt sits in the bowl, so what you are trying to do is remove the wide brim of the washer to get at the bolt head.

Good Luck,
Pablo

Post by **jimmy57** » 18 Mar 2011, 07:54

the tensioner is not supposed to compress rapidly. You compress with vise, wait 10 seconds turn vise handle a little more, it will be easy to move a little more in 10 seconds, repeat every 10 sec until compressed.

Post by **cn90** » 18 Mar 2011, 08:07

Any time you deal with an Allen or Torx head, here is the problem: the recess tends to collect dirt and therefore the Allen/Torx tool cannot go all the way in ---> stripping.

The trick is: use a tooth pick or paper clip (or tiny screwdriver) and clean the inside of the Allen or Torx head before removing it!

pablosvolvohaus · Post by **pablosvolvohaus** » 18 Mar 2011, 14:43

Hi cn90,

In my case the recess was perfectly clean and shinny, the recess is too shallow (only 1/8 inch deep)even for the prescribed 15lb of torque on the bolt. Anticipating a problem, I wedged a scrap piece of wood between the frame and the back side of my ratchet handle forcing the T45 bit into the recess and the thing still stripped out.

Pablo

sven · Post by **sven** » 19 Mar 2011, 15:50

Agreed on the recess being too shallow.

Ok, I air hammered the tensioner into pieces and I was able to get it off. But the bolt and the inner race of the tensioner are still on. Vice grips will not get this off. The hardened surface of the inner race is making the vice grips slip no matter how tight I make them. This bolt is locked solid. My next plan of attack is to weld a sacrificial socket and try to get it off. Im not too optimistic about this.

Any other ideas before I drop the engine/subframe?

sven · Post by **sven** » 20 Mar 2011, 09:21

Great success! Had to hole saw through the fenderwell but it beat dropping the motor. Now I just have to get a rubber plug and spray some rust paint in that area.

Post by **abscate** » 11 Dec 2019, 03:55

Old thread but adding ideas for reference

Can you get a Dremel with a thick cutoff wheel in on this.

Mr Dremel just saved me an hour of misery on a Bavarian Money Waster front end....zip zip zip