968 Timing Tensioner

[deekay911]

Hi,

halfway through a timing belt change on my 968. I am concerned about my hydraulic tensioner - I have it off the engine, and it's not apparent how it should work. The 'plunger' is out about half an inch from the body of the tensioner, but it will neither compress back into the body, nor come out any further - like its seized in place. The little cheese head turns round but thats about it. Is it knackered? How to set it up to tension when I replace it if not? Thanks for any clues!

DK

[magcuda]

sounds like a bad tensioner, you should have to put it in a vise and pin it in place to reinstall.

[mmmbeer]

Bear in mind that it requires a lot of slow and steady force to compress it. It will seem to be stuck if you are using hands only. That is why it need to be compressed slowly in a vice, then locked by putting a pin through the holes in it. When assembled on the engine you get it to tension up the roller by removing the pin.

[flash968]

it is indeed unusually difficult to compress - leverage and slow steady force is the way i did it - in all it took about 5 minutes of constant pressure to compress it - this is normal

Edited January 28, 2010 by flash968