Broken Cam Chain Tensioner (pics)

[pinky]

thought you guys would like to see how i spent my friday night... man was i lucky i caught this when i did..



notice how the broken piece (upper circle) is laying next to the cam (lower circle)



bet you thought you were going to see some bent valves when you clicked here. sorry to disappoint.

[A4Shizzle]

Wow, were there any symptoms before this happend?

I was surprised that this was the result, thought it would have been worse.

[pinky]

it was making some noise from that area under the valve cover...

[Militant-Grunt]

You know I think its about time I replaced mine, my sounds terrible I can hear it on idle. Playing Russian roulette here.

Was it difficult to replace?

[audiness]

yea mine is pretty noisy. I heard the job is much more difficult on my car (01 AWM) because of the Variable Valve timing

[belinko]

I've got an AWM and mine went bad on me at roughly 50K. I had it repaired at the stealership. Apparently is was pretty bad, pieces were kind of everywhere and they fished'em out for me in addition to an oil change of course.

My symptom was a bad start. Everything would turn, but since the timing was off, I wouldn't fire up right away, especially after driving it and then shuting down and restarting. After a week or so it would take 3-4 times to start the car.

[20vturbo]

Any updates ??? I have a weird nise too.i replaced the tensioner and it still does it..My engine is build with ferrea springs retainers etc...Seems like there isn't enough oil pressure going in the head or may be lifters