What oil grade is recommended to use for the non pressurized TC tensioner rebuild?, it went well with no difficulty installing the clips and such, I used a synth 10-30 engine oil, in retrospect i am not sure i used the correct grade oil. The upper oil chamber should be full as much as feasible to install the retainer and clip, I see there is a setting tool for this purpose, one of course i do not have, so I thought that the upper chamber should be as full as possible?, thanks
I use 60 wt. oil, and yes, the upper chamber needs to as full as possible but with still enough room to get the snap ring on. I slowly bleed out until the snap ring goes on.
Early S Registry member #90
R Gruppe member #138
Fort Worth Tx.
Looks like I will pop the uppers back off and fill with the correct oil and bleed it through, reseal as you recommend, thank you,
Putting too much oil in the reservoir can cause the cover to bind the shaft when the engine is hot and the tensioner piston gets pushed down by the idler arm when the chain gets tighter , the special tool serves a purpose .
Ok then, is there a approximate dimension that the piston needs to be set at for those of us without the depth setting tool? my budget for Porsche tools got eaten up on cam setting tools unfortunately, 60 wt oil seems to be only sold at Harley Davidson MC dealers??, at least in my area,
I fill the entire tensioner with 60 wt, not just the reservoir, and yes, I get it from motorcycle shops. The bleeding process to fill the lower chamber is critical and is done with a bent paper clip, the cheapest Porsche tool you'll ever use. In the sixties, seventies, and eighties, we did a lot of tensioners (as did every other Porsche shop), and although there is the Porsche tool for setting reservoir filling, we never had one. I guess it was just normal to do so without one. We just clamped the tensioner arm in the vise at an angle, opened the bleed screw and bled out oil until the snap ring would lock in the groove. Never had one fail. I think once or twice the tensioner piston failed to pop up when installed, that was an indication of over filling, rarely happened because it was nearly impossible to get the snap ring in the groove if it was that full.
Early S Registry member #90
R Gruppe member #138
Fort Worth Tx.
I went out and measured a pair of tensioners and measuring down along the piston shaft to the divider piston top, is about 22mm. Those were set with the special tool. Too much oil will cause the divider piston to move above chamfer in the body and shear off the big outside O ring. Gordon
You didn't mention the specific type of chain tensioner you were servicing.Originally Posted by AKAMick
For the 911 tensioner, a piston depth of 8 mm set with tool P 214 b.
For the 930 tensioner, a piston depth of 10 mm set with tool P 214 c.
Jon B.
Vista, CA
Jon is right. I only use updated idler arms and 930 tensioners, so my measurement is the "C" tool. Not something too many people see, so if asked if all parts are original, I lie. G
The "c" tool in position on a 930 tensioner, with the vent screw open.
To do this properly, the tensioner should be mounted so that the vent screw is at an upward angle of roughly 20°.
Jon B.
Vista, CA
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