heinrich

Sorry I had missed this part .... I'm up for helping you do that, all we need to do is figure out the small distance issue

Ketchmi

The oil does provide lubrication to the internal surfaces of the tensioner, that's a given. That wasn't the point...the bimetallic washers do not have much if any mechanical thermal connection to the engine block and cannot respond properly to changes in engine temperatures which cause the block to expand and contract. Thusly, the oil...it serves three purposes, lubrication of all moving parts, dampning and heat transfer.

Bill Ball

Mine always leaks. At least Matt and I are honest.

heinrich

Actually Dave that is exactly the point ... without the lubing function, the tensioner is damaged. But you are 100% right I understand about the heat transfer. It's just that in my humble opinion, lubing is the most important of those functions, and I'd like to add a fourth: moisture displacement.

heinrich

Bill you are a master at tbelts. Tell you what ... I'll be down your way sometime this year (hope Nicole shared this with you) .... let's do the tensioner on your car together one evening. I have never hd one leak. I attribute this to training by Louie Ott.

Bill Ball

They have some copper in them. I've seen broken ones. The definitely are not spring steel as they fracture.

FlyingDog

They are copper plated and I guess they're steel. Mine were very tarnished but amazingly didn't have any rust on the silvery parts where the copper had been stripped off.

The ones at the top are new. I bought 5 really cheap on ebay and 8 showed up in a Porsche package. I was happy.

heinrich

A little spraypaint can do a world of good

FlyingDog

Why do you think my tensioner arm looks so good?

dr bob

Do you folks really figure that the copper coating on the disks causes the washers to warp at a different rate with 175 degrees of oil against them, vs a 80 degree engine that isn't running? Enough to compensate for at least 1/2" of belt adjustment required from aluminum block/head expansion?

Maybe there are two different grades of steel in the spring washers?

Bill Ball

Bob, Porsche thinks they work this way. The way they are stacked would allow for a fair amount of movement if they did flatten significantly when heated. It would be easy to take a stack and heat them up and see what happens. Next time I do the tensioner.

FlyingDog

Many of my washers were bent different amounts. When I reassembled them, I had to carefully match them up to make sure they would sit properly against each other. I made sure they all touched each other on the outer edge, I assume that is correct.

heinrich

Matt, that is bad. And totally unsurprising.

heinrich

Not correct sir. There are pair codes listedin the WSM, IIRC most are four pairs of five against each other's flat surfaces, and the pairs meet in the centre in some and the edges in others.

FlyingDog

There were only a couple that were very different. The rest just had little differences. The worst were removed along with a few random ones. I gave the best of the removed ones to Klim since he was short 5 washers in his tensioner.