VR chain/upper tensioner

[Kevin Bacon 5]

"So here it is Merry tension, every chain is having fun....." OK, poor rendition of Slade's Christmas song but hope the pic gives you an idea of what we're on about when talk shop about VR upper tensioners.

 

This one on is on a 130 K engine and is still healthy. If you ever replace the tappets, you can check yours whilst you're there. If the brown plastic is missing and the rivets are bent/missing too, then you're in for a chunky bill.

 

Unfortunately you can't change the upper tensioner without dropping the box as half of it is buried behind the bell housing :-(

 

Just for info......as we all like a bit of that....

 

K

[VR6 0]

If the arrow is pointing to the upper tensioner..........is the Gola shoe-lace the lower tensioner?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

If the arrow is pointing to the upper tensioner..........is the Gola shoe-lace the lower tensioner?

 

No that's actually the upgraded upper tensioner.....just trial fitting it :-)

[Henny 0]

Have you broken it again then Kev? Or just trying out a new modification?!? ;) :roll:

 

I am Sooooooooooo glad the G60 only has 8 valves and a single belt driven cam! ;) :lol:

[corradovr6sc 0]

Anyone interested in changing there chains/tensioners, check out this masterful write up :http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1264409

[dr_mat 0]

You can't change the upper tensioner, but you can at least change the upper guide rail without doing anything else, if necessary.

[jedi-knight83 0]

no way of checking the lower one then??

 

what about during a clutch change? is it easy to get to, just to look?

[dr_mat 0]

If you've the clutch off, yeah, you can drop the panel off and inspect ok.

The lower tensioner very rarely goes, from what I've heard - it's a much shorter chain. It's the upper ones that take the battering. The guide rail goes, leaving the chain rattling about (noisy and bad), and the tensioner wears down badly. Unfortunately you can't change the tensioner without removing the lower inspection cover (which means removing the gearbox/clutch).

I *have* heard that it's dead easy to switch the early dual-chain upper tensioner setup with a later (much more hard wearing) single-chain upper tensioner setup. This style are good for about 500k miles, apparently, though the guide rail does go after about 100k like before - the advantage is that the upper guide rail can be replaced without removing the g/box...

(Remove the cover, remove the tensioner bolt at rear of the engine, loosen the chain, remove and refit the guide (you can see the two locating bolts).. then refit the remains.)

I'll be discussing this with Stealth very shortly... :?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Have you broken it again then Kev? Or just trying out a new modification?!? ;) :roll:

 

That's not my engine mate..... I saw it on a discussion about chains on the Vortex site and thought I'd share it.

 

They are of the opinion that a lot of people worry about them unduly. Several cars over there are running on the original ones and are way past 150K. There was even talk of a Passat VR6 with 250K on it that's had just one engine related job done to it - the head gasket! And that's it......damn good going!

[dr_mat 0]

The concensus is that the later design chains and tensioners last for ages and ages (the 97 > VR6), but the upper guide can sometimes snap.

 

I would say it's worth fixing them if you've found that they're very noisy, but until then you can't assume there's anything wrong.

 

I'm going to talk to Vince about switching to the later-style setup - should set the VR up for another 200k miles.. :-) (assuming I can afford the thing for that long!)

[PhatVR6 0]

I've done about 4 chain jobs on VR6's.

 

on one of the the chain was making a right racket, eventually it jumped a tooth and bent 3 valves. the anti friction liner was n the sump, all broken up, and the chain had been running on the metal! I never found one of the rivets....

 

had a lump that'd "allegedely" done 110K. the tensioner on that was wearing out, but the chains were still nice and tight (cam alignment tool still fitted nicey). I changed the tensioner blade and chains as a matter of course when I swapped the cams (the engine was out). then a week later the head gasket went! typical.

 

I've currently got my original 2.9 engine in bits for a new chain job. does anyone want any pics of anything in particular whilst it in bits?

 

never tried the updated parts yet.

[dr_mat 0]

Theoretically the updated parts are cheaper too, cos there's only a single upper chain to buy. I've not checked that, but.. I'd imagine the chains are about £25-30 each though, so..

I'll talk to Vince if I remember about it, and see what he thinks. It may not even be necessary to replace the chain cover with the shallower one, or the sprockets with single-sprocket ones.