rads2

I have used the search mode, and I didn't find a straigt answer to my question.
My car has 62k miles on orginal chain tensioner, and I don't know if I should buy new tensioner or just change the plastic pads on it. Should I change the pad and keep driving to a 100k and then buy the new one? What do you guys think?

Peckster

If you can get both pads, do that. Last I heard only one was available.

gtroth

Not sure this will help, but I decided to replace the whole assy. since the bottom pad was not available. What I found was that the bottom pad on mine had almost zero wear @~85K. Still, they get old and might get brittle (mine wasn't brittle, though, I can bang on it with a hammer and not break it).
Also, my tensioner would not compress for removal, so something was wrong with it.

Knowing what I know now, I'd have gone in planning on only replacing the top pad, but I would have ended up replacing the tensioner anyway when it didn't compress properly.

pete944

Chances are that it's fine but if you're like me, you don't want to take chances. I would replace the whole thing due to age and have the peace of mind.

joseph mitro

gosh, i love this topic. at your mileage chances are you're ok with just the top pad.

mine failed at 117K. no previous records (i bought the car at about 115K), but i assume it was probably the original chain tensioner and pad.

peterjcb

I replaced my top pad only on the tensioner at about 157,000 miles. I couldn't find the bottom pad anywhere and it doesn't take a whole lot of wear so I left it. The whole assembly felt pretty solid to me when I took it out so I decided against complete replacement.
Top pad only=~$40. The whole assembly ~$275.00.
If you want to spend the extra money then replace the whole assembly, but at only 65,000 miles your probably OK with replacing just the top pad.

rads2

Thanks guys,
I guess I'll change the pad on it, and make sure it works properly.
What is the main reason for a tensioner failure? Is it the oil flow, or just the wear of the pads?

joseph mitro

my humble opinion is that the tensioner itself will not fail, based on the way it's designed. it's the wear pad at the top that fails. i had firsthand experience with this. see the link in my signature for some great pics, or see my other website

hacker-pschorr

"Chances are" and "Your probably ok" are two phrases that could lead to thousands of dollars in damage vs about $300 now. Not a chance I would ever take. I've seen 16V 944's break their chain with under 70k on them. Mine lasted into the 90's before it snapped.
It's not like a timing belt where you might loose a few valve's. On a 16V your looking at valve damage - head damange and your cams being destroyed. I was very lucky with mine, head and valves were ok, my cams were shredded.

Tom R.

It is the same part that is used on the 928. There is no suggested timeframe. a few years back i did some sort of unscientific survey. They dont fail before about 115k miles.

The consensus was that since it is an old piece of plastic and may become brittle change just the pad at say 80k and the whole assembly at say 120k. I changed the pad on my gray S2 shortly after I bought it with 54k. changed it on my red S2 at about 69k and you could see the groove where the chain was starting to wear the pad.

it is a 928 part. do a search under cam chain tensioner, you should find the part number. it is about $5 from the dealer for the original part, a bit more for the aftermarket parts.

hacker-pschorr

It's still a mystery why the 928's do not have these problems. There are plenty of 928's with over 100k, 150k, and 200k on the original pad and tensioner.

Oddjob

A year ago I would have said to not worry about it with your mileage, but this past summer a friend of mine with an 87 S with only 50k miles on it, broke the cam chain. Not exactly sure of the cause, if it was a tensioner failure or just the pad, but damage was extensive. Cracked the head where the tensioner mounts and ruined both cam shafts.

Definitely check it out when you are in there and make sure the tensioner is functioning properly. You dont want a $5k bill on this one.

joseph mitro

lol, hacker's absolutely right. you don't want to take a chance. however, i still feel it's the PAD not the tensioner assembly or the chain that fails. once the pad is changed you really should have no problem. the problem is, i don't think you can find a lower pad (although they usually don't show as much wear as the upper pad does). the reason my assembly failed is because the PAD disintegrated, rolling onto the sprocket, and therefore locking that cam and stripping teeth off both cams and breaking the chain.

anyway, the advice to spend $300 now or $3000 later is good advice.
Aaahhhhh, let's see that one more time for good times sake.......

Dal Heger

Joseph,

Heh, that brings back memories... and lots of swearing!

Glad to see that you got it back up and running!

Dal.

rads2

Holy ****... Thats one scary picture.