348 Cam Drive Chain Tensioner.

I will take tomorrow a of the plug. I decided and fixed the tensioner without it as certainly was blocking oil's flow through the tiny hole.

 

Was the spring maybe installed the wrong way around by the PO?

 

I borrowed the photo from @ernie , I have the same exactly setup. My question is what serves the plastic pin at the bottom of the spring. The way that is fitted I think is blocking the oil flow from the tiny hole on the pad surface. That's my point.... It would be better to remove the pin? The spring will be less loaded but it is supposed thathe oil pressure do the job. From the other hand the designer of Renold should be smarter than me....
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This is a similar (different pad) Renold tensioner that I have. It has an oiling hole through the pad and it is for Peugeot, no plastic pin.

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The plastic pin (just guessing) might be there for two reasons: 1. to increase the spring tension (if some existing Renold spring, designed for another car, was adopted instead of ordering a 348 specific one) and 2. to make the rotation of the ratchet and spring easier when the extension of the pad is auto-adjusted.

On the other hand, are you sure that the plastic pin totally blocks the oil flow through the pad? Are there any slots in the face of the plastic pin, or any slots at the bottom of the tubular part attached to the pad?

 

I will recheck... It seems that bottom of the cylinder is a little bit concave so oil may pass.

 

I found that my car had some sort of TSB10-34 update done to it including the new tensioner pad.

It was done before I bought the car so I do not know where the parts came from.

I also have the pin inside the spring

But my tensioner only has 500 miles on it and it is really destroyed.

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Does anybody else see huge wear on these replacement pads ? (or is it too soon to tell because you haven't done a 2nd major after putting this pad in so don't know how badly they are worn). According to threads I am reading about the lack of availability for 147338 it seems like this was discussed around 2018-2020.

Mine only has 500 miles on it and it looks nearly worn out to me. If it wasn't for my broken waterpump (also only 500 miles after major done) I would not have seen this. (long story but totally disassembled motor to find and clean out missing bits of the waterpump so checking everything while there)

Is Scuderia Rampant still selling these pads? Guess I need to call/email them.

I've heard their pads are a different material but no information related to tensioners on their website.

I'm reluctant to just replace the pad with another of the same type for obvious reason.

 

Probably the material used for the tensioner pad is a different type of plastic
Less wear resistant
Needs to be a specifiic type of PA (Nylon)

 

The name is Stanyl PA46 TW341. That is what the tensioner pad should have been made of. But by the look of that photo it definitely was not.

 

Why waste your time and money?

When The RovahFarm still has the tensioner (reference number ETC5190) for sale at $27.95 a pop as of this post.

https://rovahfarm.com/defenderengine25NApg4.htm

 

If the RovahFarm's one is not Renold, you can get a genuine Renold at about the same price on Ebay: Land Rover Chain Tensioner ETC5190 - Genuine | eBay

 

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Looks like it either overheated and melted, or ran dry, or both. Is there an oiling hole at the bottom of the tubular part and through the pad?

 

Agreed - melted for some reason.

there’s no hole in the yellow/orange plastic button but the metal holder has a hole and the black tensioner appears to have a hole on the back. It’s hard to tell on the front because it’s melted but I think so.

 

Pa46 is a nylon. I wonder how delrin would hold up?

 

The Renolds Land Rover tensioner ETC5190 does not have an oiling hole through the pad so one would have to be drilled.

 

If Delrin would have held up they would have used it instead of Stanyl.

 

not necessarily…one could have been cheaper but acceptable or easier to manufacture.