A6 3.2 - Inspecting Upper Timing Chain Tensioners

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4 жыл бұрын

Inspecting both upper timing chain tensioners removed from my car a few months back. Showing how to properly reset the tensioner piston in the event you need to place back a tensioner that is in good condition.

Пікірлер: 32

@PVflying 4 жыл бұрын

Great video, thanks 👍 I love how much effort you put into these videos, even creating illustrations. It’s quite kind to want to pass on knowledge and help others 👌

@SootySweep22 4 жыл бұрын

The arms on the gasket you referred to are generally called tabs. Your English is great. I really appreciate your videos!

@ThatAfricanGuy 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for correcting me. I think my English sucks and I need more practice lol 😅

@PVflying 4 жыл бұрын

The tensioners are supplied with oil via the filter you noticed, but it’s not something which is switched on and off by the ECU, it’s a permanent oil pressure applied while the engine runs. This is the reason why failed tensioners which allow too much chain slack will normally only rattle for a few seconds after the engine switches on, because after this the oil pressure pumps up the tensioner piston and tensions the chain. Left unrepaired, the tensioner will eventually not hold tension even with engine oil pressure present. Then the timing chain rattles all the time.

@ThatAfricanGuy 4 жыл бұрын

Interesting! Your explanation makes sense. Are these pistons hydraulic or is there a spring in there? I have seen a small ball under the piston. Do you have an idea about its purpose?

@PVflying 4 жыл бұрын

That African Audi DIYer it’s hydraulic via the oil pressure which comes into the tensioner via that filtered port on the back. No spring as far as I know, but the tensioner must have a valve which retains the oil inside the chamber behind the piston, to allow the tensioner to spring back out when compressed. At least that’s how it works when the tensioner is working and has not failed. I’m not sure of the purpose of the pin or ball - I’ve wondered the same thing. I even tried pressing it inwards but it doesn’t move.

@ThatAfricanGuy 4 жыл бұрын

@@PVflying Thank you! 👍

@dankenney5212 4 жыл бұрын

@@ThatAfricanGuy I believe the small ball cast into the house provides the "latching" of the piston when resetting.

@ThatAfricanGuy 4 жыл бұрын

@@dankenney5212 That must be it. There has to be a pressure release point otherwise the piston can't be pressed in. You are a genius!

@PVflying 4 жыл бұрын

It really wasn’t a great design from Audi - all of these 3.2FSI engines seem to suffer with problems when the tensioners break. Not just the plastic tabs but the piston seals fail too. I’ve only changed bank 2 on my car. I should probably replace the bank 1 side too, but while the car is working fine, I’m reluctant to pull it all apart.

@ThatAfricanGuy 4 жыл бұрын

These tensioners seem to fail a lot indeed. And you are right not to bother fixing the other bank if the car is working fine. In my case things started to worsen about 2 years after I first noticed quick chain rattles at cold start. On the other hand I do not blame them too much about the design. The 3.2 FSI is one of the first direct injection engines they introduced and there may be a few mistakes here and there, nothing being perfect. I think the main reason this engine fails is the lack of maintenance. Some parts have to be replaced when you reach a certain mileage. The bad news is most of these parts are super expensive so people prefer to wait until there is a problem before considering replacing these parts.

@dankenney5212 4 жыл бұрын

Very good video. Great detail on how things work. Question: how did you determine that the tensioner required replacement? The latching mechanism requiring reset prior to inserting the locking pin is a bit of detail most of us (or at least me) would have missed.

@ThatAfricanGuy 4 жыл бұрын

The car started running very poorly. Cold starts were very noisy. You could hear a horrible chain rattle that started to last even longer. A scan revealed "camshaft position sensor, implausible signal" but the sensor was fine. Everything was pointing towards timing issues. And these tensioners play a big role in maintaining proper engine timing. You do not need to reset the piston if you are installing a new tensioner. New tensioners are normally already reset and ready to go. But if you removed a good tensioner for some reason and you need to place it back, you need to make sure the piston in the tensioner is reset.

@ThatAfricanGuy 4 жыл бұрын

Oh, thank you by the way :)

@TheChrisDam 5 ай бұрын

Hi there! I'm watcing all of your videos. Very helpfull. Have you ever chainge upper timing chains left/right? What is a good brand as a replacement? I ccan see the INA logo on the factory tensioners. Thank you in advance.

@ThatAfricanGuy 3 ай бұрын

Sorry for the late reply. I always buy genuine VW/Audi for engine parts.

@jasonpatterson7266 3 жыл бұрын

Keli, what happened to the broken plastic pieces on the tensioner? Are they lost in the bottom of the engine or were you able to see them and retrieve them? I know you have several videos and the answer to this may be in one of your other videos but I have not seen that. I’m sure they were broken for a while and you were not able to find and retrieve them. I ask because as I was taking mine off, the adjustable arm on the driver side was blocking me from removing one of the bolts. So I took a long screwdriver and tried to compress the arm to make room to get the bolt out and I broke a piece of the plastic off. I could not find it so I think it is down in the engine somewhere. I’m wondering if I should be concerned. It is nowhere near as large as the pieces on yours that were missing. And it is plastic and probably pretty brittle so I’m thinking that it would just get chewed up by the chain and the sprockets and not cause any damage. What do you think? Thanks.

@ThatAfricanGuy 3 жыл бұрын

The adjustable arm should not prevent you from removing any bolt. All you normally have to do access the hidden bolts is move the chain around like I did in the video showing the installation of the tensioner on the passenger's side. Sorry to hear that you broke the tab. If it is a small chunk you should not worry. Like you said, it will get destroyed by the chains or something. Let's just hope some pieces will not clog the engine lubrication ports. Before performing the tensioners job, I did see during a few oil changes parts of the broken plastic tabs in the oil taken out. I also saw traces of damage on bank 1 camshafts.

@adampolus3769 2 жыл бұрын

Hi, why you decided to check tensioners? In my audi a4 2008 I have from time to time problem with P0019. Did you had the same? Your Video and explanation are great.

@ThatAfricanGuy 2 жыл бұрын

These were old tensioners I took out of the engine. I did install new tensioners. Do you also have the 3.2 engine in your A4? What is the description of your P0019 code?

@adampolus3769 2 жыл бұрын

@@ThatAfricanGuy yes it is also 3.2 fsi 2008 audi a4 . Code of the engine is CALA. Failure p0019 Crank/Cam Position Correlation - Bank 2 Sensor “B

@ThatAfricanGuy 2 жыл бұрын

@@adampolus3769 Was any maintenance performed right before you started getting the code?

@adampolus3769 2 жыл бұрын

@@ThatAfricanGuy Yes, new two solenoids on bank 2 because of oil leakage from the top. After this maintenance I noticed that from time to time I have p0019 failure. It is not permanent. When I delete this failure the mid light is off within 100-200 kilometers, sometime even longer.

@ThatAfricanGuy 2 жыл бұрын

@@adampolus3769 It may be that your new solenoids are not compatible. OEM or Aftermarket may cause such an issue. Genuine parts are expensive but then you have peace of mind.

@ryanmacewen511 3 жыл бұрын

I think the second chamber is a dampener, or accumulator. Should take out the c-clip and see whats in there. I bet it's just a piston and maybe also a spring. This way the chain is not send hard pressure shocks of the oil pump?

@ThatAfricanGuy 3 жыл бұрын

You could be right 👍🏾

@pauliusu 2 жыл бұрын

Hi. Have you recovered broken tabs?

@ThatAfricanGuy 2 жыл бұрын

Hi. I did see a few tab debris during previous oil changes. They must have been broken down by the engine internal components in motion. I guess I got lucky that these did not block anything inside the engine. They however left visible traces on my passenger's side camshafts.

@dankenney5212 4 жыл бұрын

I wonder if the tensioners are rebuildable.

@ThatAfricanGuy 4 жыл бұрын

I also thought about that. You may need replacement tabs, a new gasket, filter and piston. However the tensioners are not too expensive and they get revisions which make them more efficient and more reliable so purchasing new updated ones may be wiser.