Timing Chain Tensioner Seal Replacement - Lock Cam or not??
 

Morning All,

I have a 2002 Boxster S and have a significant oil leak from one of the Timing chain tensioners, I'm planning on changing the 'O' ring and seal to cure this.......

My question is a fairly simple one:

Do I need to lock the cams to do this?

I appreciate there will be a lot of people suggesting 'they would', but I cannot see how removing one tensioner will have any effect on the timing. Surely the guide rail will prevent too much movement of the chain? I am not doing any other maintenance to the car at the same time and I do not plan on having the tensioner out for any longer than it takes to swap the seals over.

I guess what I'm really after is somebody (preferablly lots of people) replying to me with previous experience of simply removing the tensioner, changing the seal and O ring and not having any repercussions.

TIA

-James-

Tensioner seal
 

I'm certainly no expert but as I was finishing my IMS project I discovered that the left side tensioner was not functioning smoothly and I decided to order a new one. Went ahead and put the old one in to finish the job and get the car started. Everything was fine, the cams were just where they were when I locked them. When the tensioner showed up several days later I put it in and the car runs fine.
Your situation seems odd that a simple crush washer would present a significant leak. Have you tried tightening it a bit?