Review on 🚗 AISIN BTH-001 OEM Timing Belt Tensioner: Efficient and Reliable Automotive Accessory by Rui Knain

When starting a cold engine I started to hear a horrible rattle/rattle which went away after the engine had warmed up after about 15-20 minutes. I knew it was a faulty tensioner and after searching various Pilot/Ridgeline/Odyssey forums on the same engine I found this to be a very common problem. I'm due for a timing belt change in 15,000km and tried to hold on and wait but the noise got a lot louder and I didn't want to risk breaking the timing belt tensioner assembly. If you're not familiar with how it works, the tension spring assembly (the part I'm reviewing) is a spring-loaded piston that tensions a separate timing belt tensioner assembly that bolts to the engine and is filled with hydraulic oil with carefully spaced holes/vibration damping valves for maintenance a constant toothed belt tension. For some reason a common problem with these tensioners is hydraulic fluid leakage resulting in the tensioner having no damping capacity so they make a rattling noise until they warm up. During the past two years, when changing the oil, I have noticed oil/grease on the CV boot on my passenger side axle on what I thought was a cracked boot that was leaking grease, but it turned out that the tensioner was the source Oil was all over the timing belt. directly above him. Fortunately, the part is not very expensive and can be replaced relatively easily. I'm not a mechanic but do basic repairs on my car and I had it replaced in just an hour from start to finish. The most time consuming part was removing the small screws from the timing case cover as there is very little room for adult hands to remove the screws. It appears to be identical to my Honda Pilot's stock tensioner and all have the same markings. This is a quality product made in Japan. I have owned many Hondas and have never had a timing belt tensioner failure, but they have all been with built in tension spring rollers and not hydraulically damped. I wasn't expecting this to fail after only 90,000 miles but it's easy enough to replace so if I have to do it again in another 90,000 miles I won't complain.