Feel my pain

[nigel911]

Posted last week, suddenly noisy tensioners, car flat-bedded, got it in time, new carrera pressure feds installed, collected from shop this morning, $1006.

15 minutes later and 9 miles down the road, car makes horrible metal mechanical type crunchy noises and stops. Car flat-bedded back to wrench, waiting for prognosis.

If one of the new tensioners completely failed (not unheard of I know) what is likely to be the state of the engine? 2.4T MFI.

Feeling pretty $hitty right now.

[arerrac]

Saw this product in my "Bathroom Reading MAateral" Not sure if Pelican offers it or if would work. Sounds like a good idea though.


"For those Porsche owners who prefer running the original equipment hydraulic chain tensioners, we very strongly recommend that you install Performance Products all new HydraStop. The HydraStop allows the hydraulic chain tensioner to function normally until there is a failure and collapse of one of the tensioners. With HydraStop the complete collapse is averted and the hydraulic tensioner is automatically changed into a mechanical chain tensioner."

[jfw834]

ouch!
man that blows....i can't imagine how irritating that is after all the talk of carrera tensioners....well all i can say is sorry that the crap fell on you and I would like to recommend the stops pictured above. The reason the hyd. tensioners failed was mostly cause of the skinny idler arms...that was fixed in 1980. So if you update yours to post 80 and then install the collar guards you should have the best setup. and worst case is that you have to rebuild a tensioner or two and will protect against the big bucks. this is what i plan on for my 79 with stock tensioners now next time the engine is out....(thats looking like a clutch!....ugh ).....good luck with it....

[nigel911]

Any thoughts on what the condition of the engine / likely damage might be?

$'s involved to fix?

Trying to prepare myself for the worst before the wrench gets back to me. Have a feeling it could be a little too rich for my budget, or lack thereof.

[dweymer]

Nigel,
I may be wrong on this, but if a tensioner fails, the valves may or may not come in contact with the pistons. I have not heard it myself but would imagine it to be pretty violent/loud. Crunchy noises make me think maybe something small was bouncing around in the chain housing. Did the motor lock up completly?

[nigel911]

Pretty much. The noises were pretty loud and the engine came to an abrupt halt - it didn't die gradually, it completely packed in. I used 'crunchy' to describe the expensive sounding metal on metal type noises.

[on-ramp]

go get your $1,000 back, first and foremost.

[jabb]

Stop the Check or Credit Card...

[john walker's workshop]

i've seen lots of carrera tensioners fail and never caused any engine problems as you describe. they don't generally fail once they have oil pressure and they have pumped up. the failures you usually hear about relate to a new tensioner just not wanting to pump up, and staying noisy. doesn't sound good for the shop. try to be there when they open it up.

[john walker's workshop]

any news yet?

[ken_xman]

I am curious on this one too. Sounds very odd to me.

[MBAtarga]

He posted a follow-up message:
Value please

[dweymer]

Nigel911 posted in the engine rebuild forum, topic "can I do this?" He wanted to know about rebuild cost and difficulty.

[ed martin]

Are you guys kidding? Get your money back for the tensioners install? I would say the shop is liable for the entire engine!