harrisonrick

That yellow?...I'd change both pads for certain. NOW.

The tensioner itself can last 200K+ miles...check its oil feed tube for cracks or leaks as well. Buy new crush washers for re-installation after pad replacement.

That bottom pad is a sneaky one...it can be very worn and overlooked if the top pad looks ok.

Easy job, worth every minute/penny spent.

DHC6

Well the car has over 180k miles (pretty much 300kms) so these are for sure not the original parts. PO said the head was rebuilt (and as I poke around it seems to be true), the sprocket and chain don't seem to have any ware on them yet, so I am sure this was done as well. Also the pad plastic still seems to be "pliable" and not brittle. Teflon plastic is softer and you can normally dig your nail into it, and the pad is still like that. However as many of you point out, when in doubt there is no doubt, changem.

Jfrahm

I agree to a point - however the risk of misadventure is high with a part like this. IMO that pad is slightly oil-colored (big deal) but it has proven itself to be in place and working and shows no significant wear.

A replacement pad might suffer from a manufacturing defect or installation issue, or some other problem might be caused by misadventure when attempting the replacement of the pad.

Yes, it happens. You work on your car and something breaks. New parts are not always sound. Why risk disturbing a part that appears to be in fine shape? Isn't there a better way to spend that time and money?

If the pad was brown and deeply grooved I'd be the first to say replace it, but in that condition I say step away from the valvetrain.

-Joel.

hacker-pschorr

With that mentality we might as well never change our water pump or timing belt since the new pump & belt could be defective or some "misadventure" during installation.

Sorry, this is way to big of an area to take chances. The mechanic who inspected my pad / chain was a 20 year veteran with Porsche.

If the pad is brown and deeply grooved consider yourself lucky and buy a lottery ticket if the chain is still in tact.
Suggesting he wait for any part of the valve-train to worn to almost the point of failure is horrible advice.

The statement: "I am finding alot of 'surprises' that the PO left me with" doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.......

Jfrahm

White you are clearly arguing against a strawman and that never ends well, the water pump is a prime example IMO of a part that is often changed for the worse. Impellers come loose or new bearings fail, counterfeit parts are delivered, walking impellers damage blocks or jam up the pump, causing timing belt failures... I'm sure there are other stories out there as well.

Yes absolutely I think water pumps should be changed but not good, working, relatively low-hours water pumps. Under 50K miles and working fine? Absolutely not. Leave it in there. 75k-100k miles? It's out.

This is an argument that boils down to personal preference and acceptance of risk. Weigh the risk of getting a bad part or a bad install with the risk of letting a used part run a bit longer. New parts are not always good and installs are not always perfect and trouble free.

For the record I am not advocating leaving a tensioner pad in place until it turns brown and brittle and is nearly worn out. I am just saying do not risk misadventure by changing one that you can see is in great shape. Sheesh.

-Joel.

hacker-pschorr

I've seen more than I care to remember, low mileage, low-hours factory installed water pumps fail.
Most recently on an A6 Audi. That was about as close of a call as I've ever experienced. Damn lucky he brought it over before it completely failed.

On that note, I would rather take my chances with an old water pump with unknown history than chain pads. A used block is a lot easier to find than a good used, S head, cams, and valves. Which can also lead to block damage.

There is also a big difference between Chinese made counterfeit water-pumps and a plastic pad from Zimms.

blown 87

They need to be changed, simple as that.

CorsePerVita

When in doubt, swap it out!

If I:

- Do not have a service record showing when something was replaced, and it is a questionable item I replace it. Guessing is never a good option if it has a large potential for failure, and expensive failure at that.

- Do not have a way of checking said condition when something is questionably old.

If I am having to question something that may be questionable failure, it is best to take care of it now than be dreading it down the road, something bad happens and then "oh crap."

While the clutch is not a "destroy things" maintenance item, I remember questioning mine and in the back of my head "I wonder if that's going to fail... it must be an original" and eventually my clutch did give up on me and sure enough, it was the original.

On my 914, I neglected to change grounds in a few areas because of the age of the wiring it had become brittle and had an issue with a ground. I ended up with an engine bay fire and an entirely destroyed harness, and am really really lucky that the only thing damaged was the harness, and not a burned down car. In the end, grounds and mice chewing through some wires were my culprit. Had I not disregarded and assumed all was well, wouldn't have happened.

Learn from the mistakes of others. If it is a questionable item, you have no idea when it was replaced, there's no service record to show it and you're "down there" you "may as well replace it while you're down there."

A. Peace of mind.
B. Fresh start of KNOWING when it was replaced
C. Cheap insurance for your engine

All the above are good enough reasons for me to replace something questionable. While I agree that an oil stained pad is "not to worry" as plastic will stain with the oil, if you are worried about it's conditon and wondering if it's older than dirt, it's best to get it replaced so you don't have to worry. The failures that have been on this board and others have been expensive to fix. Cheap cheap insurance by comparison to what it costs when it fails.

Izzy Does It

CorsePerVita said it best: "When in doubt, swap it out!"

Mark944na86

What a load of BS. Have you actually done this job? It's rather easy, actually.

Jfrahm

Yes.

Mark944na86

What? And your car *didn't* self-destruct? You dodged a bullet there, then...

Jfrahm

Whatever dude.

pettybird

those look nice to me. I'm not sure if I kept my old originals or not but they were as dark as burnt oil and grooved like inverted train tracks.

harrisonrick

If you do not have a proper dated maintenance record of the tensioner being serviced...SWAP those pads and service/inspect that tensioner.

The alternative is MUCH MUCH costlier.

I don't care how "good" they look in pics. Anyone who says they appear good without proof they are good with dated records of proper service is giving you poor advice.