So I took the car in and said, "I perform the maintenance on this car and everything on it is perfect. I don't need anything done at all other than change the belts without scratching the fender, tearing up the splash shield, or getting mass quantities of dirt inside it". Easy enough.
I got a call while I'm enjoying some brews at a nearby pub. "The mechanic brought me back and your tensioner is loose". I say, "what do you mean, loose?" "It's flopping back and forth and needs to be replaced". I say, "How much?" "$238". I say, "jesus christ! Hell no!", which is over the top and beyond what I wish I had actually said. I was very, very surprised and responded accordingly, which I regret. It just so happens that thanks to flcruising(Aaron), I had reviewed the procedure to check that part and knew in fact that it was most likely not coincidentally defective at the time of the call.
Here's what the service receipt says, "Inspection found tensioner to be bad. will need new tensioner. noise will result from this part. informed customer. customer has declined repair." I like the sales pitch that noise will result. Cute.
Anyway, I go back to the dealership, grab my keys, take the following picture.
*EDIT* I am now wondering if the mechanic told him the pulley is loose, not the tensioner. He sounded like he knew nothing about cars, so the tensioner and tensioner pulley would be the same thing in his mind. I do notice a tiny bit of play in the pulley when I slip the belt off, but it is silent, so I can't be sure until the guy calls me back to clarify. I don't consider a belt pulley to be a part that requires incredible precision. It seems like a bit of play would be expected, but I don't really know for certain. Maybe the pulley is what the mechanic was talking about and he happens to know that this amount of play is getting close to making noise and going bad.
