Any one know, is there a new tensioner coming on the market?

[roaddetective]

I have it from an informed source, that they have heard through the motor grapevine, that there is an upgrade to the timing tensioner coming out in the near future. Has anybody in the motor trade heard about this and if true, do you know when it will be on the market. I was going to get the latest tensioner fitted to my VRS CCZA engine soon, but I may hold back and see if an upgraded tensioner is available instead and fit that. Be a shame to go ahead and have the last 2012 upgraded tensioner fitted and then find out soon after a better and possibly more reliable one comes on the market. I expect a few other members are in the same situation as me. 

Edited 26 May, 2016 by roaddetective

[UdayP]

I have it from an informed source, that they have heard through the motor grapevine, that there is an upgrade to the timing tensioner coming out in the near future. Has anybody in the motor trade heard about this and if true, do you know when it will be on the market. I was going to get the latest tensioner fitted to my VRS CCZA engine soon, but I may hold back and see if an upgraded tensioner is available instead and fit that. Be a shame to go ahead and have the last 2012 upgraded tensioner fitted and then find out soon after a better and possibly more reliable one comes on the market. I expect a few other members are in the same situation as me. 

The answer to this is the Holy Grail to the chain driven engines. I too would like to know before taking the leap of faith.

[roaddetective]

My quest now is to find that holy grail. I was going to have a new tensioner fitted next Friday, but now I am going to wait a bit longer. If I find out anything, It will be posted.

[Dwabo]

would be even better if skoda would contribute to the remedy for this known issue too!

[ahenners]

Interesting post and I'm interested to hear any updates as my warranty is up in 6 weeks and I've thought about having my tensioner done for peace of mind.

I wonder how the last revision of the tensioner in 2012 differs to the tensioner found on the MK3 VRS TSI (2013). Perhaps a new tensioner release would make it similar to the one on the MK3? I know these cars are still in their early days compared to the MK2, but haven't heard of issues with the Tensioner on these, or with other VAG cars (Superb, Leon Cupra, Golf GTI, Golf R etc.) all of which have a variant of the EA888 TSI in a newer generation.

[roaddetective]

My source of information is waiting for his contact to find out and get back to him. It might be a little while before they release the new tensioner, or it could be next week. At the moment nobody is sure when it's becoming available, but as soon as I get told, it will be posted. Then as soon as it's on the market, my car goes in the garage for this upgraded part. 

[BigW]

Any news on this?

[roaddetective]

Not a bloomin thing yet. My car is at the garage for an MOT tomorrow morning so I will ask the manager again then. He did say earlier however, when he has word he will inform me. I am still holding off replacing my tensioner a bit longer to hopefully fit the very latest one. Mind you, it would be just my luck for the engine to go bang before then!! 

[BigW]

I'm picking a TSI up next week, probably have this done as a precaution straight off the bat and for my peace of mind, will get the hs tuning kit I think.

http://www.hstuning.com/product_info.php?products_id=3619

[BigW]

Writing this more as an aide memoire for myself, but also for discussion.

As above I'm looking to do the tensioner as a precaution, I initially looked at the HS Tuning kit, but would no doubt get shafted by import tax (Although I'm in the states next month so could be an option getting it posted to my work)

When changing the tensioner, is it worth changing the whole shebang?

Gathered some part numbers below:

Upper Tensioner: 06K 109 467 K

Lower Tensioner: 06H 109 467 T

Camshaft timing Chain: 06H 109 158 AD

Smaller Timing Chain: 06H 109 158 N

Lower timing case with crank seal: 06H 109 210 AG

Sealant for lower timing case: D174003A2

Upper timing case gasket: 06H 103 483C

Camshaft positioning sensor gasket: ?????

Lower timing case bolts (x15): N91096702

Vibration damper bolt: WHT001760

Engine mount bracket bolts (x3):????

Engine Mount to Bracket Bolts (x2): ?????

Engine Mount to chassis bolts (x2): ?????

Chain slide rail guides:

06H 109 469 AH

06H 109 469 T

06H 109 469 AQ

06H 109 469 AP

06H 109 509 Q

06H 109 509 P

[roaddetective]

Not a bloomin thing yet. My car is at the garage for an MOT tomorrow morning so I will ask the manager again then. He did say earlier however, when he has word he will inform me. I am still holding off replacing my tensioner a bit longer to hopefully fit the very latest one. Mind you, it would be just my luck for the engine to go bang before then!! 

Very frustrating. The garage manager has spoken to his contact and at the moment the new design of tensioner is under testing. Nobody knows when it will be available to the public. Do I wait, for how long I don't know. Or do I fit the latest tensioner that is available at the moment? Have asked for a quote for fitting the tensioner kit anyway. Will keep you posted if I find out anything else.

[andsoutham]

have their been any failures with modified engines since the latest revision came out then? my octy had a new engine back in 2014 so I'm assuming I have the latest tensioner but don't have any rattles or symptoms as when the original one gave up

[roaddetective]

have their been any failures with modified engines since the latest revision came out then? my octy had a new engine back in 2014 so I'm assuming I have the latest tensioner but don't have any rattles or symptoms as when the original one gave up

That is a good question. If I can't find out soon about when the new tensioner is available, I may just have the latest tensioner that is now available fitted. Especially if so far there have been no failures with the latest one. The latest available one must be the one fitted to the MK3 VRS. Why though is a new one in the pipeline, if the latest tensioner now on the market is reliable! Maybe I will ask the same question in the MK3 section of this site.

[roaddetective]

Well I have now given up waiting for any firm news of a new tensioner. Spoke to my source today at the garage and he can't as yet get a firm date as to an updated tensioner coming on the market. As he stated, it could be 6 weeks, or 6 months! Getting a price today for the job to be done now. Of course with the latest tensioner going on, I will have the chains renewed as well. Hopefully the bill will not be too much over £500. I guess it will be worth it just for piece of mind. 

[andsoutham]

Well I have now given up waiting for any firm news of a new tensioner. Spoke to my source today at the garage and he can't as yet get a firm date as to an updated tensioner coming on the market. As he stated, it could be 6 weeks, or 6 months! Getting a price today for the job to be done now. Of course with the latest tensioner going on, I will have the chains renewed as well. Hopefully the bill will not be too much over £500. I guess it will be worth it just for piece of mind.

Better to spend £500 now rather than £4000 later on a new engine I suppose

[ahenners]

Well I have now given up waiting for any firm news of a new tensioner. Spoke to my source today at the garage and he can't as yet get a firm date as to an updated tensioner coming on the market. As he stated, it could be 6 weeks, or 6 months! Getting a price today for the job to be done now. Of course with the latest tensioner going on, I will have the chains renewed as well. Hopefully the bill will not be too much over £500. I guess it will be worth it just for piece of mind.

That seems like a wise decision. Be sure to post back with an update on the work and the cost!

[roaddetective]

The car is now booked in for the 6th of September. 6hrs labour, cost of full chain kit and the dreaded VAT, total £614. It is being done by my trusted independent garage. The owner of the garage, an excellent mechanic himself, always makes sure he is available, as he is the only one that works on my car. He knows just how bloomin fussy I am! He says he will order the parts just a couple of days before the 6th, just to make sure he gets the latest kit available. Why do we spend so much money on our cars eh? Preventative maintenance and because we love them so much I guess.  

[BigW]

All parts have arrived, being fitted a week on Saturday, hope it lasts till then

[TheClient]

All parts have arrived, being fitted a week on Saturday, hope it lasts till then

I did a precautionary job on mine the day I bought it.

 

What's the scope of parts are you are going with fitting? Your earlier list was long and comprehensive but expensive and missing the lower timing chain cover I think which is often damaged on removal. Mine was replaced.  My guys said the other chains and tensioner for the oil pump and and counter balance shafts would be overkill, (add to labour and part costs without much benefit) as they are not the items failing and not under the same loading as the timing chain.  Unless mileage was very high or there was some other problem evident on disassembly.

 

Hope it all goes well. 

Edited 20 August, 2016 by TheClient

[BigW]

I did a precautionary job on mine the day I bought it.

 

What's the scope of parts are you are going with fitting? Your earlier list was long and comprehensive but expensive and missing the lower timing chain cover I think which is often damaged on removal. Mine was replaced.  My guys said the other chains and tensioner for the oil pump and and counter balance shafts would be overkill, (add to labour and part costs without much benefit) as they are not the items failing and not under the same loading as the timing chain.  Unless mileage was very high or there was some other problem evident on disassembly.

 

Hope it all goes well.

Just picked up the car last week so it's my first job.

The lower cover is listed up there: Lower timing case with crank seal: 06H 109 210 AG

I'm doing all chains, guides and tensioners, was considering oil pump at the same time but not 100% on that. The car isn't high mileage but I do a decent distance for work each year so it's all peace of mind, if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right.

Looking forward to getting a hold of the old tensioner to give it a good looking over and see how bad it is or isn't.

[TheClient]

Just picked up the car last week so it's my first job.

The lower cover is listed up there: Lower timing case with crank seal: 06H 109 210 AG

I'm doing all chains, guides and tensioners, was considering oil pump at the same time but not 100% on that. The car isn't high mileage but I do a decent distance for work each year so it's all peace of mind, if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right.

Looking forward to getting a hold of the old tensioner to give it a good looking over and see how bad it is or isn't.

Ah, obviously didn't read list closely enough.  There wasn't a lot to see on mine once removed apart from the revision number. It's a £50 part than can fail and cause £5,000 damage!! Not a lot to the actual part really.!

[BigW]

Ah, obviously didn't read list closely enough.  There wasn't a lot to see on mine once removed apart from the revision number. It's a £50 part than can fail and cause £5,000 damage!! Not a lot to the actual part really.!

There's a good read in here about the mode of failure: http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102001

[roaddetective]

That was a really good read, thanks BigW. Makes me very glad mine is booked in for the new chain kit.

[TheClient]

Yes, interesting. The ratchet mechanism is a big problem. Before removing, from the car, the position of the ratchet was noted by appointed tech indicating the amount of chain stretch in my engine unit. Overall, the tensioner unit didn't inspire a huge amount of confidence to look at, given its role. Edit: but nothing looked obviously wrong - and my change was preventative.

 

I didn't have a microscope at all let alone one with that kind of resolution and photographing to inspect my unit. Not sure how much it would of helped me though as mine hadn't failed and it was replaced with a later revision, so would  the later revision wear in the same way as the old?  I hope not but, maybe if the materials are largely the same.  I guess only time will tell if failures start appearing on the current latest tensioner unit.

 

Thanks for the info.

Edited 21 August, 2016 by TheClient

[TheClient]

Wonder why no tensioner is made with a ratchet unit formed from a billet?

 

I can [almost] understand even if I don't accept how VW have competing pressures that may prevent a significant departure from the current status quo on part revisions and specs given to suppliers but you'd think an after market manufacturer could have released a high quality replacement unit.  I would rather pay £100 or even £150 for the part if it's durability was significantly enhanced.

 

It does seem to me the amount of ££ allocated for this part, is just too low for the role it plays in the engine.

Edited 21 August, 2016 by TheClient