Heya. The title pretty much says it all. I have an R53 that I ordered a new belt tensioner assembly for because my old shock looks like it is leaking and I'm planning on replacing my SC pulley soon so might as well do it all together. The new unit that came looked great but the shock could easily be compressed within the tensioner assembly using very little force and the male shaft of the shock gets recoated with an oily substance every time it goes inside the shock. I had a replacement sent that arrived sealed in the Gates box and it is exactly the same way.

For those of you that have experience with a new tensioner assembly, should it be this essy to compress the tensioner shock? I cant imagine it would help much if so. If so, I will just keep one of the two and if not, I will send them both back and try again.

Thanks in advance.

 

I just put on a new gates one that I got from Amazon. I wish I would have taken off the strut to see how easily it slides, but I didn't, so can't answer your question. I do think however that the spring does most of the work.

 

After getting two that have the same resistance in the strut I'm leaning towards them just being that way but still nervous that the shaft is coated in fresh oil everytime it goes in. While a slow process, it would causs the strut to run out in a few months I bet.

Im supposed to send the tensioners back monday so im hoping someone out there can confirm for me before then.

 

The pistion is a DAMPER....not a shock....it does not pull or push..just provides pressure to slow movement....
It prevents the spring on the damper from making a harmonic bounce (leading to a thrown belt) letting it matain tension...
Never compared new vs old, etc...but OCD I am not....

 

Thanks for the reply. I get how the damper, strut, etc works even if I call it by the wrong name, it is just that the new one is so easy to move in or out that I don't see it being useful at all and it is losing so much oil that it would not last long even if it was working. I found a coupon that allowed me to get it for about $60 so it may be worth a shot to just put one in anyway and see what happens.

 

Remember..when you are touching it to test it....it is FULLY EXTENDED.... ONCE INSTALLED it is HIGHLY compressed....many folks have ordered the gates unit...and are using it...no real issues reported...and at 25% the cost of the dealer part...wow...big $$$ savings.

 

With the unit in front of me I can fully extend and fully compress the strut. Im still hoping there is someone out there with hands on experience. Someone should be able to tell me whether their brand new strut seems to leak as the two I have. Thanks for the response though. I likely wouldnt find the price again if I did return both units and ordered from somewhere else.

 

Last try before I give up and send them both back. There must be someone out there with experience with a new strut on a new tensioner.