[Shotimes] RE:Timing Belt Tensioner

[Jonathon Beisler]

Hey there,

My car was a 94 ATX.  The smoke started one morning and was coming out from under the bottom right side of the upper outer timing belt cover.  I thought that a bearing had seized, as the tensioner on the ATX is on the other side under the left cam sprocket.  It smelled more like burning rubber than coolant.  Anyway, to make a long story short, the smoke culprit was the water pump.  As someone said, it was the water and coolant dripping down on the cat and making smoke and the God awful smell.  After I replaced the water pump and did the 60-100k service, water pump, crank sensor, cam sensor, timing belt, front oil seal and serpentine belt, the smoke went away as did my oil leak.  Yay!!  For a while, since I finished the job at 2 AM, I thought that  I had really screwed something up, as the smoke was worse than ever.  I cursed myself, the car, my tools, pretty much everything, but then I called it a night and looked at the next morning and slowly realized that the cat had just been drenched in coolant from when I removed the water pump.  A book entitled SHO Repair For Dummies would get my money.  D'oh!  
Anyway, I hope this helps a little.
Jonathon