scooterfree62

Hey I bought a set through FCP Euro and reasonably priced under $250 each. And they had a stamp from Germany. They also offer a lifetime warranty on their parts. Been running for about a thousand miles no issues. Just remember to or should change your cam chains. Should do your timing belt water pump and thermostat at the same time.

Y888

Thanks for that info,chains are not expensive 35$ for iwis brand which is german supplier .
My tbelt service was done at 80k(2010) and now i have 127K on the clock,still have some time left.

Y888

i am getting exactly this noise only in D,at idle i dont hear it ticking.

Y888

Here is a fcp "economy" tensioner for s8.I dont see stamp from Germany anywhere.There is some really hardly visible logo that is unknown to me.
No stickers on the box too that would indicate that its made in Germany.
Looks pretty china to me.
After reading horror stories here Fun With Cam Chain Adjusters. What's your speculation?? ,im returning it.

scooterfree62

Well I had bought them first from Advance Automotion and they were china style and got 80,000 to 90,000 out of them. one started to rattle on start up and six months later started to throw a code. coil shorted out to ground. He had the cheapest price with cam chains and valve cover gaskets etc too.

Then I bought a set from FCP which the box they came in said Germany on the box. I have had them for about 6,000 to 8,000 miles. They have been working fine with no issues so far. But if I do, from now until I sell the car I will be getting another set for free from FCP if I have any issues with them. Do what you think is right but where ever you get them from. they will last around a 100,000 miles if you are lucky. and changing your oil every 3000 to 5000 miles will help getting 100,00 miles from them.

Question is you want to pay 250.00 ea with a warranty or up to around 900.00 ea OEM style with out a warranty. Was a no brainer for me.

Peace out

Y888

Well if you include the labor its will cost as oem,its a lottery i guess.
Cheap guy always pays twice(i learned that lesson
Should be at least 5hrs for both i guess.

dgcantrelljr@verizon.net

I recently replaced both tensioners on mine. The passenger side lower pad failed and the chain started hitting the inside of the valve cover. Got a set off an ebay vendor. The worst part of the whole job with the damned T27 Torx (Torque to yield) cam cap bolts. I had to beat, bang, and use vice grips on just about every damned one of them to get them off. Ended up stripping the threads in the head on the first couple of ones I torqued down (10nm + 90degrees, from memory, I could be wrong). I helicored those two and decided to hell with the 90+ degree crap and set the things at 15nm.

The engine had 215K on it at the time. This was in July when I did it the job. It took me a couple of weeks to go though the process. I took my time as I didn't want to screw anything up. I had the belt and water pump replaced at a shop before and decided to just replace the belt on this round. Also during the whole beating and banging on the cam cap bolts, I must have knocked some carbon build up down into the cylinders because after getting it ALL back together and turning it over by hand to check and make sure everything was in time, it decided to lock up about 3/4 of the way though the 4th turn of the engine (I had gone just a smidge past TDC on the first cycle and turning the thing backward with the belt installed is a no-no). I thought a valve or something was causing the issue. Nope... Ended up soaking the cylinders in Sea-Foam over night (no leak down in the fluid indicated no bent valves) and rocked it back and forth with a breaker bar till it spit the carbon out.

Anyway, to make a long story short, it's running like a champ now 10K miles later. Still every so often the damned tensioners will clack on start up. They are definitely the Chinese made ones since I got them as a set for less than what ONE of the OEM ones cost. Still probably the most nerve wracking work I've done it so far. I'll never spend a $1100 for someone to put a belt and water pump on that thing now though. That's a piece of cake now that I've done it and then some.

Dave
944 Hoarder

All-Audi-Home

I used one similar one of these Chinese Cam Tensioners on the DS of my A8L D2. While it looked like the original I ended up taking it out and replacing the original after a short while. When I had both in hand I discovered that there were significant differences even though the part number was the same (letter code was newer on the new one). I thought the old one had failed but my issue was with counting rollers and the confusing Bentley information that lead me astray. That issue is fixed but I had to reach out for help.
Roland
All-Audi-Home