Leon Speed

Due to a lot of personal happenings I didn't get to drive the car until yesterday for the first time this year. It had been standing since November last year parked at our vacation home. Yesterday I went for a long drive, and the car performed beautiful. Tomorrow I would have taken it home , which is about a 400 km drive.

Today I went to top the tensioner up, since I bought this car in 2007 and I had never checked the tensioner (or the belt for that matter). So I filled the left side, waiting for the oil to come out of the lower port. It took a while but finally oil came out of the lower port. So the tensioner seemed to be dry - wonder why - but happy that it filled up I tightened the nipples. One last look under the car and away we go for another drive - or so my intention. To my 'happy' surprise there was a nice puddle of oil under the car. Seems that the tensioner leaked out all the oil I had put in. Checked the front of the engine and oil is literally streaming of the front of the oil pan. Not a small seep, but a stream about 5 cm wide. So it seams the tensioner is leaking at the front.

So I am thinking I just want to rebuild the tensioner as fast as possible. Normally I'd be tempted to a complete front end refresh, but I want to fix it and drive for a few weeks more while still in driving season. Otherwise it will be March next year. A refresh can be done in the winter when I have some more time.

So how much time will it take me to rebuild the tensioner? Are there any parts I "must" replace while in there? (btw the last timing belt replacement was in 2007 - 28000 kms ago). Any tips/tricks? Write ups? Keep in mind I have never opened up the front of the engine, so I'm a noob in that area.

I will be searching here of course, but any pointers are appreciated.

Thanks

Herman K

http://members.rennlist.com/pirtle/t...tml#remove_ten

WICruiser

To access and rebuild the tensioner you basically need to do everything for a TB replacement.

I just went through several disassembly and reassembly of the front covers, etc. and the first time was basically a 2 day job, the final time it was down to about 4 hours.

SeanR

Can't count the number of them that have come in dry. And have been on the road for years that way.

Mrmerlin

you can drive it the way it is,

No sense in taking it apart if your just going to do the job completely at a later date.

That way you can go from this to this

Leon Speed

Thanks Herman, great link!

I was afraid of that! I was hoping I could leave the belt in place and just remove the tensioner, but alas. 2 days ok, will be 4 days for me then

Yeah I would have no problem driving with it knowing it was dry, but since there was such a large spill, I am afraid oil spilled on the TB and it might slip.

That first picture: holy crap!! The second: holy crap!!

Mrmerlin

the oil wont drip onto the belt if its leaking from the tensioner gasket,
just wipe up all of it that you see before you drive

cold_beer839

When you take it down to rebuild the tensioner, make sure you keep the internal washer stack in order. The washers are beveled inward and outward by design. You have to take the washer stack out to replace the o-ring in the bottom of the tensioner. Also, when you refill the rebuilt tensioner with oil, do it very slowly and do not use a pressure type pump to force oil in. Also, the clamp that comes with the top rubber boot is a CV-joint boot type clamp, so make sure you have the proper tool on hand to clamp it.

I would recommend the Porkensioner. It cost more money, but it will not leak oil, since it doesn't use any. I have been down the road of rebuilding a stock tensioner only to have it leak after a TB job was done, then having to remove everything to rebuild it again. No more stock tensioners for me.

PorKen

You can install a PKT without removing the balancer/pulleys, keeping the existing belt for now. Just put clamps on the cam gears to hold the belt in place. The center cover will fit over the balancer with a little coaxing. I've done this on all three of my S3s when I bought them, until I could do a full TB/WP job.

Like the 'Hoff', PKTs are popular in Germany. There's even a german version of the manual (thanks to Schocki).

PKsnr_DE.pdf

rexpontius

Aryan, I would definately recommend the Porkensioner.

Renew the belt and Pkensioner upgrade was the first thing I did to my car when I bought it, and do not regret for a second.

The original tensioner just looks inferior to the modern Pkensioner design, and it gives real peace of mind, knowing no real maintenance to the system is required for a long time.

Installaton is also really straightforward, even with airpump-delete option.

cheers

dcrasta

Porkentensioner is awesome. So simple even a caveman can do it.

Dean_Fuller

Another vote for ProKens tensioner...simple design, sealed. Once you make the first investment the only thing that needs replacing in the future is the Audi tensioner ( $60 ? I think or there abouts ) and the pulley which needs to be replaced even if you rebuild the old tensioner. No rubber boots to fit, clamps, washers to clean and sort, and no adding oil...EVER!

NoVector

+1; The cost is negligible; the piece of mind... priceless.

Landseer

Go to this link.
Select the 87 TB/WP job listed near the bottom of the list.
The stock tensioner is "dealt with", with pictures, about halfway through the document.
They do work well if cleaned and rebuilt carefully.

http://www.dwaynesgarage.norcal928.org/

Imo000

As said above......wipe it clean drive it untill it's time for a timing belt change. The oil in there isn't that important anywyas............putting the flame suit on