dude hydraulic tensioners ?

[74targa_in_NZ]

Hi there,
I brought 2 second hand hydraulic tensioners off ebay recently, when they turned up i can push them both in with my fingers. the question is, is this the way hyd. tensioner are ? do they get solid by the hydraulic pressure or have i brought some duds ?

I also have 2 other hyd tensioners, that came with the upgrade kit, that i can press in with my fingers. If all 4 are duds then are the hyd tensioners any more reliable than the old non-hyd tensioners ?

cheers

hayden

[nocarrier]

Try priming them with oil.

Submerge the tensioners in oil and press the piston in a few times while they are submerged in order to fill them up.

Once primed it should have much more resistance than when they are dry.

[911pcars]

When no more bubbles emerge from the submerged tensioner, the piston should feel pretty much rigid. You might have to slowly compress it in a vise to install into the engine.

Sherwood

[74targa_in_NZ]

i tried submerged the tensioners in oil and pumping with my fingers a few times to fill with oil, but didn't seem to make any difference in the resistance?

[JohnJL]

I dont know if those are shot, but I will say the hydraulic tensioners I have installed (6 now) have all been able to be pushed in when dry, but once they have been run and pressurized they it takes a vice to collapse them back down enough to install them again.

I dont know how to verify them dry, but keep in mind the oil passing through narrow orifices and the pressure on the internal diaphram is what makes them better. Their "static" springs are like non-hydraulic units.

Install the new ones and go.

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by 74targa_in_NZ

Hi there,
I brought 2 second hand hydraulic tensioners off ebay recently, when they turned up i can push them both in with my fingers. the question is, is this the way hyd. tensioner are ? do they get solid by the hydraulic pressure or have i brought some duds ?

I also have 2 other hyd tensioners, that came with the upgrade kit, that i can press in with my fingers. If all 4 are duds then are the hyd tensioners any more reliable than the old non-hyd tensioners ?

cheers

hayden

Let's take a look at your assumptions about the chain tensioners. First, they're all hydraulic. That is, they use oil to maintain tension against the timing chain. The main difference is that the early (pre-84) tensioners are self-contained and the late (84 on) tensioners are fed constant oil by the engine.

If the self-contained tensioners can't be pumped up, the internal o-rings are probably kaput.

There's probably a good reason the previously owned tensioners were being sold - they weren't working. The number of faulty units outnumber the good ones by a long shot, and the good ones are usually unavailable, still working inside an engine. That's a pretty good reason to purchase these new.

If it's not too late, try to get a refund from the ebay seller who, I assume, reassured you these were working units. If the purchase was less than 30 days ago and you paid via paypal, you can request a reversal and refund if the seller doesn't comply.

Sherwood

[JohnJL]

He said 2 came new with the upgrade kit. From Pelican?

[74targa_in_NZ]

Once again the kit was from Ebay, maybe a good lesson the buy a new kit