Tom R.

Joel,
if you are correct with your 100k guesstimate, i have a feeling there will be a S2 with a blown head for sale soon. I met someone today with an 89 and mentioned the pad. she told me the car had 120 on it and asked about when the pad goes. I said about now. hope i didnt jinx her, she didnt know about t-belts either, nor do i think she cared. i did give her my number and this site to get info and call when she wants to get rid of the car.

JontraK

So my S2 has 75K on the clock now. Should I be looking at replacing the top tensioner pad?
Is it it a DIY job?

Tom R.

yes, yes. just to be safe. we are talking about a 18 year old piece of plastic that has gone from negative temperatures to probably 300 plus.

Jfrahm

Most of the ones I have heard of failing were at 130-150k, I recall hearing of one failing below 100K but it might have been an anomaly, or a rollback. Age might also be a factor so as time marches on it might make sense to lower that mileage estimate.

If I had one with 75K on it... I might change it. I just changed out a perfectly good fuel pump because it had 140K on it and I wanted confidence in the part. I might just peek at the 75K pad and see how it was doing. If there was a good reason to get in there I'd change it (i.e. leaking cam cover seals.)
I do not consider 75K to be that much mileage and absent of other concerns It'd probably be smarter to find something else to fix that would be a better use of my time.

Consider replacing the fuel lines if you go in after the tensioner pad, and check the little ones as well as the big ones.

-Joel.

FRporscheman

If you have any doubts as to the true mileage or whether you need to replace the pads or not, can't you just pop off the cover and take a look to see how worn they are? I think firm hand pressure should compress it enough to give the chain a bit of slack to peek in but I've never tried that on an S2.

Jfrahm

On my old 89 I was able to unbolt the cam cover and lift it up a bit, even without unhooking the fuel lines. You can see how far into the pad the chain has worn.