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Hi all, still struggling with chain tensioner on bank 2, following a pad failure on the top part of the tensioner (compressed tensioner and replaced pad) I now have a misalignment between the two cams. I suspect either the inlet cam has slipped a tooth or maybe the lower spring part of the tensioner is stuck compressed, eg the lower part of the chain is not under enough tension. Has anyone disassembled one of these tensioner? Just wondering if yhe lower part is just a simple spring loaded?

Yeah, just a spring with a plastic bump stop inside the spring.
You will have to pop the valve cover off and inspect. Set TDC with the cover off and keep an eye on the cams/tensioners as you get close to TDC…if the chain is loose as you turn the engine the tensioner is not doing its job (not getting oil, etc). Helps if you have the cam locking bar and fit it at TDC also as that lines up the other bank cams and shows if or how much you are off on the bank in question… As an example, after you fit the cam locking bar you see that the intake cam little notch doesn’t line up with the little arrow on cam cap, then you know the intake cam has slipped… because the exhaust cam should line up or you can’t fit the cam bar.

After looking at the other post where you have pictures, the only solution I have for you to time the cams without taking them off, is to compress the tensioner again, take that new tensioner pad off, pull the slack in the chain up and towards the intake cam and spin the intake cam to position by using a 13 mm socket on the other end of the cam (obviously with the cam sensor removed,which is held by 2 torx screws, don’t even unplug it,just remove the screws and let it hang by the wires if it helps since it’s tight back there). In theory it should work and it did work the other way when it slipped, but the engine has more force when running than this limited access trick…

Many thanks, that makes sense, I will give it a go!

I would also test the camshaft solenoid to make sure it works (VCDS has this option under output test), unplug it and measure ohms (10 to 18 ohms is spec). And to make sure there is nothing blocking or broken, take off the solenoid (2 little torx screws) and inspect that area of the tensioner (I think there is a little plastic plunger in there, make sure it moves freely and no sludge blocking it). There is a YouTube vid on it…

You have a link to the video?