i am changing my timing belt 2.0 diesel . the problems i am having are the tensioner in the dayco kit has no tension on the spring so no good . the replacement i ordered the postman decided to throw it over a six foot fence as nobody at home it landed on concreate and now has a damaged edge so no good . i need the car back on the road . is it safe to reuse the old tensioner ?

When you say you had no tension did you have the tab locked in the block ? Apparently common to miss it.

you could reuse the old one, it’s been on the car ex number of miles and been ok I take it 

But it would be always in my mind that it wasn’t changed 

It’s gamble only you can decide to make

I'm pretty sure these tensioners are not sprung. You rotate it into position and secure it with a nut.

the one that came off is sprung the new one just turns. the pointers on the new one doesn't move as you turn it. the old one when in position turn it with the allen key it will spring back if the nut is not tightened the new one just stays there.

just ordered a new one its too expensive if it goes wrong at a later date to risk .

now all up and running 

Old thread but for info. I am pretty sure that you were talking about an alternate design of tensioner ( also like the Gates one for the Yeti 2.0 tdi ) that does not have a locating tab that engages with the recess in the head, as the original Litens tensioner had. 

 

These alternate designs appear to rotate endlessly but I think they work once they contact the timing belt and then they hold their position and can be tensioned up against the belt. 

 

And I believe they do have a spring inside - the Gates one certainly does.