[Waylander]

Interesting idea,



If its possible then busted ones will be worth a fortune

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[MCL968]

Interesting idea,



If its possible then busted ones will be worth a fortune

Martin, do you want me to dig up the VW/Audi part number and forward it to you for sleuthing purposes?

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[Waylander]

Well why not indeed, I think I know someone that has one with s broken lug / bolt fixing



But if its possible then why not have a go indeed

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[MCL968]

Wow, I looked up the tensioner, they look a lot alike, the bolt holes are in different locations, but they are quite similar.

 

Except for the price. The Porsche unit is $567 and it is NLA. The VW/Audi unit is $30-50. The joys of driving a rare car!

 

Part number is 078109479E. They don't seem to be in short supply.


 

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

Replaced mine 3 years ore so ago , 245E new out off the box , not to bad i guess .

 

The old one was not broken and working fine , maybe i should put it on ebay for 250E   

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[Waylander]

If its working fine why did you replace it?

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

If its working fine why did you replace it?

30 years old part now , did a engine rebuild , did not want to take the risk , after all the work and money spend .

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[ds968]

If you plan to keep the car for the long foreseeable future, it’s actually a goo idea ( IMO ) to buy as many back up parts and critical tools you can reasonably afford, particularly if you learn they might soon become NLA .    

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[tejon007]

Really cool guys.



I'd bet that you could also mill the bottom of the Audi one flat and add a relatively thin plate (1/8" or so) with some holes to adapt it to the Porsche motor...if the Audi internal parts don't match up for rebuilding the Porsche one.



Maybe one of the mounting holes on the Audi already lines up? Is the housing on the Audi aluminum?

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[J.Elenbaas]

Yesterday I searched on that part number and found that many cars are using something like this, not only VW/Audi.

And they're all a bit different so maybe the one we need is somewhere in between.

 

And otherwise we have to machine something to make the VW/Audi part work... once needed!!!!


and many different brands as well

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[dlearl476]

This came up in a search yesterday? Any thoughts?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195204357874?mk...media=COPY

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[paulzebo]

Hydraulic tensioners have been around quite a long time. I think you would be ok to have them rebuilt. But like the others say, if it’s working, why? Not much can go wrong with them. Just make sure to compress the plunger and pin it prior to removal. Porsche has a tool for that.

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[dlearl476]

Doubtful that Porsche would consider producing a part which has almost no history of failure.  The two cases Jay highlighted are not necessarily indicative of an absolute defect of the tensioner itself without contributing factors ( improper tensioning or subsequent adjustment of the balance belt after replacement, neglect in checking the proper function and lubrication of the rollers and other components, etc etc at least thats what Porsche would argue ) . Heck, they didnt even want to take responsibility for the pinion bearing failure which was a very well documented factory tolerance setting error and affecting numerous cars, so I do t see them being too worried about overall brand reputation if a few 968s here and there disappear off the roadways because of NLA parts .   If they were 911s , thatd be a different story .  But hey, I do hope that Im wrong and Porsche will be convinced to remake this, and any other critical parts for which there are no alternatives and can render the cars useless, although I doubt theyre worried about their reputation if that happens to a few 968s..  

As I posted above, according to my guesstimate, Porsche had 5,000 spare tensioners in stock at one time. 30 years later, theyre NLA. Given there were only ~13,000 968s ever made, going through 5,000 spares in 30 years leads me to discount the almost no history of failure bit.



Mine technically didnt fail. It was replaced during a routine belt change because it was seized. I suspect many were replaced like mine was, or simply as part of routine maintenance.



I wish Id have kept my bad one, it would be an ideal core to send it to the guy on eBay thats rebuilding them, as a trial.

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[ds968]

As I posted above, according to my guesstimate, Porsche had 5,000 spare tensioners in stock at one time. 30 years later, theyre NLA. Given there were only ~13,000 968s ever made, going through 5,000 spares in 30 years leads me to discount the almost no history of failure bit.



Mine technically didnt fail. It was replaced during a routine belt change because it was seized. I suspect many were replaced like mine was, or simply as part of routine maintenance.



I wish Id have kept my bad one, it would be an ideal core to send it to the guy on eBay thats rebuilding them, as a trial.

Wow.  In light of this statistic, it’s clear that I had drawn the wrong conclusion, and I’m surprised ( actually befuddled ) at the lack of threads and posts, not just here but also on other forums 968 segments, which might have mentioned the need for replacement of the tensioner, for either of the two reasons noted above…particularly given the expense associated with that, which is not insignificant.   

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[dlearl476]

Dont confuse the internet with reality. 13,000 968s produced. We have, what, 100 members here?

One thing for certain. 5,000 tensioners went somewhere. Id take a WAG that most were replaced during a routine belt change like mine was.

This is why the #1 phrase mechanics hate is I read it on the internet

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[J.Elenbaas]

It is not mentioned in the maintenance list for our cars that the tensioner has to be replaced together with the belts.

So if some shop did it was because they probably thought itched to be changed as well.

 

Not much can go wrong with this tensioner, unless you break it yourself

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[dlearl476]

Not much can go wrong with this tensioner, unless you break it yourself

Mine seized after sitting for a year.

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[ds968]

Dont confuse the internet with reality. 13,000 968s produced. We have, what, 100 members here?

 

Jay no doubt has the numbers, I don’t know how many active members are here , but there are usually exponentially more lurkers than members who would probably register to post if they had an issue with their car .  I haven’t looked at RL forums for years but I know two members there who said the 968 segment had over a thousand participants.  And the 944 segment supposedly has tens of thousands participants on RL.   Why mention 944 ? Because I wonder if it’s the same tensioner ??   If it is , it’s plausible most of those 5,000 tensioners went to 944 owners, considering the cars are both older and much more numerous …  

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[dlearl476]

Jay no doubt has the numbers, I dont know how many active members are here , but there are usually exponentially more lurkers than members who would probably register to post if they had an issue with their car .  I havent looked at RL forums for years but I know two members there who said the 968 segment had over a thousand participants.  And the 944 segment supposedly has tens of thousands participants on RL.   Why mention 944 ? Because I wonder if its the same tensioner ??   If it is , its plausible most of those 5,000 tensioners went to 944 owners, considering the cars are both older and much more numerous  

No. The 944 has a mechanical tensioner. Our engines are the only ones that used that one. (Sadly. If they used them on all the water coolers wed be in luck with another production run most likely. )



At one time, there was a thread going about the possibility of adapting and using the 944 one. I dont think it went anywhere.

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[Waylander]

A lot got broken by stupid mechanics putting them in a vice to compress them,



Seized another reason to drive your car more often, not sure how they can seize they are full of oil, the tensioner arm seizes quite often



There are numerous makes and models that use the same kind of tensioner from the same manufacturer Aisin, and I have looked through service schedules for a few of those cars, guess what no mention of changing the tensioner at every service



They seem to have been changed just because, no other real reason

This has left us 968 owners with a bit of a problem

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