bureau13

My belt tension is fine (I checked it), I never see the warning light (and I know it's working) and the belt and water pump were changed some time in I think 2012 (with relatively few miles put on since). That said, I do plan to do that job if not this summer, then in the fall. However, while reading through some other threads, I realized I have no idea what's going on inside my tensioner. If it has no oil left in, what are the ramifications of that? Should I try to put some in, just to make sure?

mike77

I think the oil allows the tension to adjust as the engine and tensioner oil heats up. I imagine with no oil in it the tension would read correctly when the engine was cold but would be incorrect when hot.

bureau13

I'm not entirely sure if this means the tension would be wrong when hot, or the ability to warn of incorrect tension would be compromised, or both. I guess it couldn't hurt to put some oil in the filler hole, if nothing else to see if there is already oil in there.

There are no covers over the two fill spout things, btw...I assume there probably should be...

davek9

My understanding is that the oil:
First, keeps the thing form sticking (this would be bad) as it needs to retract to loosen the belt as the Engine expands.
Second, aids in heat transfer from the engine into the washers inside the tensioner.

Dave K

ROG100

No oil would mean limited contraction of the Bellville washers. They could still contract from metal to metal heat transfer but perhaps not as much as needed or in a reasonable amount of time.

mark kibort

there are realtively , no issues. the only purpose is to lubricate, protect from corosion, and allow for heat to transfer to the plates quicker to cause expansion and tension change as the engine heats up. since the engine heat will always transfer with time, it just takes longer with no oil. i have never had more than just a tiny bit of oil in the tensioner (basically dry) Never have i had the ability to get it to seal . when it wasnt leaking out the gasket, it was leaking out the front seal. so, i just gave up after understanding how it works. so, i just go easy on the car until its at full temp.


eventually , the tensioner washers get to the proper temp and change the tension.

cant really stick... the washers get thicker and thinner based on temp. its a straight shot to the part that touches the tensioner roller. It can get jammed up, but thats if it gets rusted and welds itself solid.

reasonable time is the operative term... it will always get to the same point , eventually.. just take longer for them to heat soak.

bureau13

Sounds good everyone, and it makes sense. I do think I'll use Stan's Visine bottle trick (from another thread) to see if I can get some in there/have any in there now.

Jetdriver69

You could try a flexible neck oiler can. I found one at Ace Hardware for about $10.

It would work great to try to refill the tensioner while installed.

I used mine to reverse bleed the clutch slave.

davek9

You do not want to force oil in under pressure, it will blow the boot off the top.

The easy way I found is to get a 6 feet of clear tubing cut in 1/2, open both b leaders on tensioner, connect tubing to both.
The top right is the fill, the lower left is the drain.

Gravity feed the oil(your choice) I use what I put in eng, but it really doesn't matter as it will all leak out anyway
into top bleeder until it comes out of bottom bleeder.
close up fittings.
Done, check next year in spring or whenever u change oil