Successfully changed both secondary tensioners. The ones I removed were in fairly decent shape considering they are the originals and have 106,000 miles on them. Each has a crack in the usual place, but on the right bank one the plastic slipper has a crack in it and was a bit loose. Looks like you could pry it off with a fingernail, so.... yeah.... disaster averted. I think it took about 6 hours, way more than I thought it would. Removing and installing the valve covers is MOST of the labor. Runs great (as before), but I don't really notice a difference in engine compartment noise. (In one of my other threads I have a video with sound.) If I had to do it again, I might think about paying someone to do it, if the labor rate was reasonable and I trusted they would do it right. (thats a big IF of course). BTW, I rented the tools and bought the tensioners from a guy on ebay, very reasonable.

 

Very impressive! I was sizing up this job for the past two weeks but have chickened out and checked it into a specialist. Those don't look too bad - how were the guide rails?

 

I'm amazed you were able to rent the tools from someone. But great job!

 

For anyone contemplating this job, I thought I would remind them that there is a method of changing the tensioners that does not require any special tools, just a twist tie to hold the chain on the sprocket while the exhaust cam is removed and lifted, (with the chain still in place) to allow the tensioner to be unbolted and the new one bolted in. This makes this job much faster.

 

Thanks for all the kudos!

oldmots:
The part of the job that uses the tools is pretty quick... The valve cover removal is the big time-consumer. I'm not sure unbolting all the cam hold-downs is faster, but I suppose you DO avoid needing the tools that way. Does this method open up a different can of worms though?