[Wayne 962]

This just in...

One of our suppliers has sent me a letter in response to reports of increased defective Carrera chain tensioners. Please read this carefully.

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The past few months XXX has seen increased returns on hydraulic chain tensioners included in Kit XX-XX-XX. Many of the returns are for tensioenrs that have not been deployed, and others show no indication that oil has been in them. I have spoken to the supplier who has in turn checked with the one and only manufactruer in the world to determine if a defective "LOT" had gotten on the market. This is not the case, the failure rate on these has not increased, and no additional complaints have been made from Porsche or WDs.

There is no aftermarket supplier!!! All 930-105-058-03 chain tensioners come from the same factory regardless of box color, bag color, bag size, and box size. Tensioners are not always shipped in bags, they do not have to have oil on them, and they do not have to have the same casting I.D. number. Please don't let customers manupulate these facts.

Proper installation according to Porsche is as follows:

Submerge the tensioner in oil and pull the pin. Pump up the tensioner with your finger until no air comes out of the hole (this is done totally submerged in oil). Once the tensioner is full of oil, it can be checked for leaks, prior to installing on the car.

Porsche says that the procedure of installing the tensioner on the car and turning the car over to pump the tensioner up is 100% incorrect and should NOT be done. From talkng to XXXX Sales and our German contacts, most mechanics use this method, and have been for many years.

Regarldes of how long the "install and pump by cranking" method has been used it is wrong - air pockets in the tensioner can occur an cause uneven pressure, this will appear to be a "weak" tensioner when in fact it is a improper installation.

Please familiarize your customers about the correct installtion of Porsche chain tensioners, it will save them a great deal of tim and energy, and can avoid costly returns for tensioners that are prefectly fine. It can also save a mechanic a great deal of time in the event a tensioner is truly defective.

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Hmmm, I find this very interesting. The official Porsche procedure for installing these is not contained in any of the factory manuals, as far as I can remember. Does anyone have a tech bulletin with more details?

-Wayne