Cam chain tensioners/pads removal and replacement guide

[carrerasc]

Thanks for the reply and the warm welcome.

It's hard to reconcile what you are saying about the tools going on the cams OK with the kind of figures you are seeing.

I completely agree. Which is why I am on the struggle bus. The crank was locked using the locking pin. Not positive, but I think the tools came from eBay. I had to slightly bend the ends of the bar for them to be parallel to each other and fit on the rectangular washers. I have another cam bar ordered. I did not replace the rectangular washers. Is that really necessary?

Also, would the tension on the eccentric pulley play a significant factor in the timing? My understanding is that it is used to take up the slack and set tension (6NM CCW) on the belt while the damper pulley is in a locked position with the 5mm allen wrench. All this while the cams are locked in place with the bar and the cam sprockets are allowed to freely spin on the cam spindles. So the belt tension wouldn't have any affect on timing would it?

[Shoppinit]

It shouldn’t as long as the tension is set with the sprockets free.

The rectangular washers don’t fill inspire much confidence in assuring alignment with their little square hole. Doesn’t take much imagination to see that some excessive wear/force could introduce some play.

Also maybe they’re not genuine and haven’t been made well. Seems like a stretch but not a crazy idea either. I’d definitely want OE for these parts. They’re not expensive.

[Classik]

I had to slightly bend the ends of the bar for them to be parallel to each other and fit on the rectangular washers. I have another cam bar ordered. I did not replace the rectangular washers. Is that really necessary?

Confirmed no later than 3 days ago : this bar perfectly fits the BCY : BGS 8234 https://www.amazon.co.uk/BGS-Fixing-Too ... 846&sr=8-1

[Mɐʇʇ]

It's my experience that with new everything, it's still easy to end up with marginal numbers.

The square washers seem to rely on a bit of their galvanising to take up the clearances, so if you take the bar on & off a few times, the holes in the square washer the bar engages on wears and adds clearance. It's also possible that the LHS bank, which likes the cams to spring out of position, ends up loaded at full tolerance.

On my last cambelt job, I put it all together, bar on, pin in and so forth - marginal numbers.
Released it all, jiggled it a bit (bar on & pin still in) tightened it up - perfect numbers.
The plastic TDC marker on the front cover is also not very accurate.
And it's also possible for the TDC pin to go part way in, so you think it's spot on, but it's still a jog out. You have to make sure the pin is fully home - but not overtightened.
My job was arguably made worse last time since I had had the cams out - I think if it had been cams in, so both the cams and the crank were 100% undisturbed between belt off and new belt on, it may have been easier.

I suspect many of them are running with marginal numbers if the garage doesn't check in VCDS and just does it mechanically, but as long as your cam adjuster shoes are not worn, it should be possible to get the numbers pretty much bang on.

You can tell I just don't get on with the cambelt change on these cars.

[Classik]

Just wanted to chime in to triple confirm the Vaico's are perfect replacements for the oem tensioners. Parts numbers are Vaico V10-4409 and V10-4410.

[carrerasc]

Wanted to provide an update. So it turns out that the chain tensioner pads wore worse that I thought. After breaking it all back down I found the bank 2 top tensioner pad ends had broken off since last inspected. So I this time I dug deeper and removed the cams and tensioners on both banks and found more pieces of broken pads. The bottom pad on bank 1 was missing entirely and the chain was wearing into the metal on the tensioner. I thing this explains my readings I was getting on block 93. Further inspection of the tensioners shows that the screen to the oil inlet is missing or partially missing. A few questions for the group; 1. I can't find all the pieces to the bank 1 tensioner pad. I noticed a small passageway close to the tensioner, for oil I guess. Where are the rest of the pieces, would they have likely found their way down to the oil pan? 2. Looks like I am going to have to replace the tensioners and chains, screens missing and metal-on-metal wear. OEM vs anything else, I know to stay away from eBay? Someone mentioned the Viaco ones were working. Still holding up?

[Mɐʇʇ]

Likely in the sump. Which is not hard to remove. Doesn't need a gasket, just a tiny slither of silicone.

Interesting the screen is missing on yours too. I wonder if this is a thing!
Mine has a Vaico adjuster in because I found one of my adjusters had ingested the screen. I even found the debris for it in the little hydraulic cylinder.
It's good - both banks (OEM with new shoes & Vaico) are exactly in spec and working 100% correctly.