Remove Chain Tensioner Sealer?

Midlife Crises

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What brought you to this conclusion?

The is exactly what felpro says not to do?
Standard practice used many times in over 45 years of working on light, heavy and stationary equipment. Remove ALL of the old gasket. Install the new gasket and sometimes glue it in place. When I replaced the tensioners later,”during a cam change” there were no signs of leaking around the gasket. Using MMR billet aluminum tensioners now that use an O-Ring as the seal. At assembly, the O-Ring is lubricated with and held in place by a little silicone grease. Again, a standard practice.
 

Racer45

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Well I’d say the proof is in those photos you shared. Can definitely tell the 2 seals arnt going to play nice together imo
 

Samos3

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Well I’d say the proof is in those photos you shared. Can definitely tell the 2 seals arnt going to play nice together imo
All they have to say is to remove the sealer whether your tensioners are new or old and, if old with a bad seal to get new ones. It's very simple, but I guess there is an art to technical writing.
 

whitmanink

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All they have to say is to remove the sealer whether your tensioners are new or old and, if old with a bad seal to get new ones. It's very simple, but I guess there is an art to technical writing.

i guess the more i start thinking about this,
the more the answer was in front of all of us..

if you couldnt reuse the old tensioners . then why does fel-pro supply new tensioner clips to re hold the old tensioner back closed?

so i guess i owe midlife an apology as i was misinformed and i myself didnt read the lines correctly , only skimmed,,

id now almost say it would be better to do as he did and seal the area yourself ,, not only do you know the bead is good but you can make it a bit thicker to give it some seal..

infact i think next time i take the timing apart , thats what im gonna do since i saved them clips anywho
 

Racer45

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i guess the more i start thinking about this,
the more the answer was in front of all of us..

if you couldnt reuse the old tensioners . then why does fel-pro supply new tensioner clips to re hold the old tensioner back closed?

so i guess i owe midlife an apology as i was misinformed and i myself didnt read the lines correctly , only skimmed,,

id now almost say it would be better to do as he did and seal the area yourself ,, not only do you know the bead is good but you can make it a bit thicker to give it some seal..

infact i think next time i take the timing apart , thats what im gonna do since i saved them clips anywho

They supply the tensioner clips because felpro probably assumes most people probably lost, threw out or never had any clips at all if they still have the “from factory tensioners” still in the car.
Trying to reset your timing without the clips would be a total pain in the ass with out them even though you can just use a clamp on chain guide rail compress them down that works even better then the clips. Gives you just a little more slack for the chains. I use them both just incase the clamp where to slip off

For people deciding to reuse there old tensioners to repair I’d say it would still be highly advised to check them for any bows, warps ect. With a strait edge or on a flat table.
And that the spring isn’t weak, and plunges without any binding or any other weird anomalies.
 

JC SSP

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I personally have always thought that tensioners are one-time use.
 
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