Tensioner

Anyone know the signs of a bad upper tensioner (stationary one) for a 3.4?

 

What are you talking about?

I would say the signs of a bad upper tensioner are a loss of tension on whatever the tensioner is tensioning...

Other than that, could you be a little more specific?

 

if you're talking about the idler pulley in the timing belt setup squealing would be sign #1. excessive TB wear would be #2.

most TB kits include replacement pulleys, might as well replace it while you're in there, even if it's not bad. I did the same with my water pump. Pulled the old one out and it looked just fine and felt solid...but, i was elbow deep in the engine already. better to replace it with OEM now than cook the engine when the old one decides to fail.

 

^ Yeah you'll feel a grinding feeling when manually spinning it, or most likely you'll hear it squeaking. TBH I rarely replace them if they're not making noise because they usually last a really long time, but it is definitely a good idea to do it while you're in there.