Just changed the cambelt on a MY97 Impreza and noticed the tensioner pulley had a strange amount of movement around the pivot bolt.Is this common or are they prone to wear. The internal bearing runs smoothly.

 

I was warned before the second scheduled cambelt change on my MY98 that it's fairly common to need a pulley changed due to wear.

In my case it was an idler pulley, and after being replaced the engine was significantly quieter, although so much stuff gets looked at during the dreaded 90k service I can't say for certain that the engine noise reduction was solely due to this.

 

Thanks I will check it again before giving it a good blast

 

One of two things....
Firstly you should have movement as that is how the tensioner works.
Secondly, forget the above statement if you did not fit the spacer on the back of the tensioner pulley, it slots inside it and without it - it will wobble about.

Rob