tensioner leak I don't understand

[jbrinkley]

are the pressure fed tensioners under pressure after you turn off the car?
I thought I had a leak at the hollow bolt. I changed the washers and orange o ring on the tensioner and ran/drove the car briefly and no leaks. 4 or 5 hours later I have a 7 or 8 inch circle of oil on the ground. It seems like whatever amount is in the line is all comming out until the pressure is bled off and then the leak stops. the oil is comming from the hole in the cover plate or the hollow bolt, but these are new. The cover itself is also new. And the gasket is new. It's deffinately comming from the hollow bolt or tensioner through connection.
I don't understand, is oil comming back from the tensioner after turning off the car and leaking because the tensioner is bad? This is the second time I've done this, the first time didn't cause any problems.
I have die in the oil and it's for sure comming from the tensioner.
can someone explain what happens to the tensioner after you shut off the car. And what happens to residual pressure insode the tensioner?

[john walker's workshop]

the metal lines that feed the tensioner are famous for cracking at their joints. it should be leaking when the engine runs in that case.

[jbrinkley]

I'll try looking for that.
If the tensioner totally failed I'd know it, right? I've never heard one fail.

[john walker's workshop]

they do fail, but with no accompanying leak.

[the-track-guy]

Jerry, my 86 Carrera had a leak right at the small hollow bolt/banjo fitting where the tensioner sticks through the chain cover. I was a combo: small part was the o-ring around the pressure fed tensioner was weeping, larger part was the hollow bolt had fractured right where the four holes are....just replaced bolt with new copper washers and gradual tightening until the leak subsided.

[dfink]

Which side is it on. The one on the left is a bugger to get a feel for how tight it is. I replaced my leaking ones last year in an attempt to fix leaks from the joints and ended up with the left still leaking. After I pulled the engine out of the car to get a better look I found that the bolt which I thought was tight still had probably 2 turns left in it. I was afraid of stripping it when I installed it so didn't go as tight as required. When I had it out where I could get at it better it tighted very firm as it should have. Unfortunalty due to other reasons the entire engine is now apart. Point is you may just not have it tight.

[hcoles]

my 0.02 - the rebuild kit I got had O rings for the cover plates...when I put these on they seemed to not have much interference. I went to the O ring speciality store here and got the proper size of Viton. No leaks so far. I don't know if the kit supplied ones would have leaked or not.

[mb911]

jerry are you back?????????

[jbrinkley]

home for the holidays. I thought I was going to die. Passing email out an air lock sucks