Oldblue

Did you activate the new tensioner from under the valve cover?

ButchB65

Yes i took the VC off to activate the new tensioner. The other tensioner was activated the same way when i replaced the chain.

ButchB65

And according to the Cloyes Timing chain replacement video That engine builder said the new designed tensioner was to be installed in the activated position. Which i did not do because also in the video He said the exhaust balance shaft was on the right and the intake was on the left. Which when you are facing the front of the engine they are reversed. So i did mine the original way. put it in then activated it.

Oldblue

Read thru this tutorial

https://www.ddmworks.com/assets/imag...uild%20Kit.pdf

ButchB65

Yep Thats exactly how i did mine. I've been turning wrenches for 37 years. I know what i'm doing. That's why i asked this question. To see if anyone has ever run into this before. This is my first Install on one of these engines. And all of my other engine jobs i have never seen anything like this.

Oldblue

There’s a first time for everyone, I have to present solutions as if the person has no experience at all, because others may read the thread. I have no indication of your 37 years experience, you have no idea I’ve been working on cars and trucks since 1962, professionally from 1973.
So no offence intended, just information

PulpFriction

Got a link for that video? All the Cloyes videos I've seen admonished us to release the timing tensioner after installation. I have seen one credible-sounding, well-made non-Cloyes video that says to activate the tensioner first. Things do change, but I'm not sure I quite buy that.

donbrew

I think ttjere was a misunderstanding; the "new" kind might not need to be activated AFTER installation because it activates itself by hydraulics. You don't activate it BEFORE installation We have heard of instances when it did not activate itself.
The Shop Manual says to manually activate it and how to reset it if is being reused, along with a section about not forgetting the seal.
I prefer to follow the Sop Manual.

PulpFriction

Just a couple weeks ago I disected a timing tensioner. I concluded that oil pressure alone will impart tension to the chain, but oil pressure alone will not activate the spring-loaded ratchet mechanism, so when oil pressure is lost at shutdown, an unactivated tensioner can retract to its unactivated position, which can allow a very sloppy chain until oil pressure builds. So it's true that it applies tension with hydraulic pressure, but that ain't enuff.

I don't think the spring part with the ratchet will ever initiate until it takes a rap without oil pressure. That COULD happen due to chain tension at startup, especially the first start with zero poil in the tensioner, but the safe thing to do is to give it that rap from the top, to be sure. And why not? With a chain job you have the valve cover off anyway.

To keep the confusion complete, I concluded that MAYBE it's possible that, as a pre-activated tensioner is rotated into position, the plunger will be eventually contact the tensioner guide, and thus be inhibited from rotating. Then as the tension barrel continues to be torqued into position, it might be automatically retracted to the optimal ratchet tooth. Maybe. It would explain how people are having success pre-activating the tensioner.

Or, maybe our OP's tensioner leaked because, being preactivated, it was (obviously) extended to its maximum ratchet step, so at the correct installation torque, it inparted excessive tension to the chain, and never seated properly at the correct installation torque.

I talked to one very experienced mechanic, very familiar with Ecotecs, who claimed that it is indeed unnecessary to wrap the tensioner from the top, and that the initial start up will activate the tensioner. That strikes me as risky.

For now I'm sticking with manufacturers' and OEM's directions.

I would love to see OP's leaky crush washed and see if it looks like it was ever properly compressed.

donbrew

Doesn't the ratchet prevent the plunger from backing up?