Okay so here's the story:

Water pump went out so I purchased everything to do pump, timing belt, tensioner, pulleys. Got them them all replaced and the car ran great until the tensioner started ticking loudly. I was under the impression Auto Zone sold me a bad tensioner so I had it replaced under warranty and installed the new. Well now this tensioner is ticking also. It started ticking within 10 minutes of having the car put back together just like the other one did.

Okay here is the tricky part of the story... My Dad helped me replace the timing belt assuring me that he knew how to do this. I should have known better. We did not turn motor to TDC and align cam with markers. Instead he marked cam gears with white out and also marked heads (created his own alignment marks). We got everything back together and the car runs great just like it always has. So my question is.... could the belt be installed improperly if the car is running fine??? or could an improperly installed belt be causing the tensioner problem?? I am under the impression that if a belt is improperly installed then the timing would be off. Maybe the auto zone tensioner is not calibrated correctly?? I am about to order a factory tensioner but thought I would check and see if anyone has had this same experience.

Thanks in advance and my vehicle specs are in sig.

 

I have loosened the adjustment bolt for timing belt tensioner and then tightened it and the noise went away...its back again and wondering if just the Timing belt tensioner by itself can be changed with out removing or changing the timing belt?