GUIDE: Fixing Oil leak in Timing Chain Tensioner ( 18R-G 3T-GTE 2T-G )

[MnToyGuy]

A US Suzuki budy has found me complete 18RG timing kits with gaskets and gears and chains. landed price is goung to be about $250.00 Australian so I am waiting for the first one and I will post details here.

Hi all, noob here, but in top 20 posters on classic-celica. 18-RGU in my car

I came to the 11mm x 2mm size as well, but inserting B into E shaved a bit off of the (Viton) o-ring due to the step inside E, plus it was pretty stiff, so I don't think it would move freely enough. Plus the above o ring was not tight around the bottom of the groove in part B before insertion.

I spent an hour with an o-ring distributor (measuring and test fitting) and we came to US spec 2-013, which is 10.82 mm x 1.78 mm. It doesn't seem like much, but made a world of difference. He said the original was Japanese Standard (far from standard) JIS P10 which is 9.8 mm x 1.9 mm. I can get them here too if anyone is interested. It's like $0.25 ea US, lol.

So, if you have trouble with 11 mm x 2 mm, try these sizes.

The original gasket between the head and tensioner is fiber (blue arrow), like an oil drain plug gasket. Just bring the tensioner into an auto parts store and have one fit. Most guys here just use silicone (we call it permatex), and that works fine.

RT104GT, do you have a contact name for the US company? I'd like to see what they have. I'm building a 2.2 RG with 288/304 cams, ported and polished w/ O/S valves, so hunting up sources for parts. Pretty much set, except for valve train

I can also help source stuff on this side of the Pacific for ya.

Cheers,

Eric

[The Witzl]

Eric,

i thought it was a little tight when putting it together too, but found that with a little Inox MX-7 assembly lube and a light tap in from a screwdriver, the o-ring got past the little "step" quite easily and didnt get shaved like you mentioned.

Another thing, the back-stroke plunger doesnt actually move much or at all during normal operation, the only reason that it is free to move is so that you can correctly set the tensioner pressure.
So the O-ring just needs to seal the bastard in there really

Part D is the moving part of this assembly, and it moves under full oil-submersion.


Thanks heaps for your info though! It's good to know there is a slightly better fitting O-ring available.... and even better knowing what the stock gasket is made of for the tensioner

[MnToyGuy]

Eric,

i thought it was a little tight when putting it together too, but found that with a little Inox MX-7 assembly lube and a light tap in from a screwdriver, the o-ring got past the little "step" quite easily and didnt get shaved like you mentioned.

Another thing, the back-stroke plunger doesnt actually move much or at all during normal operation, the only reason that it is free to move is so that you can correctly set the tensioner pressure.
So the O-ring just needs to seal the bastard in there really

Part D is the moving part of this assembly, and it moves under full oil-submersion.


Thanks heaps for your info though! It's good to know there is a slightly better fitting O-ring available.... and even better knowing what the stock gasket is made of for the tensioner

I tried a couple of different (11x2) o-rings with different amounts of lube (oil) and pressure. Couldn't get the damn things to pop in clean. Mine were loose in the groove spinning freely. Did yours do that? Could be differences (slight) in our parts, tolerances, etc or more likely in the durometers of the o rings we were using and differences in the sharpness of the step. I was trying to figure out how to put a chamfer on the step before I found my "expert".

In any case , my "o-ring guy" said you want the o ring to be tight or even stretched a little in the ID. Then match the cross section to what will seal.

That said, I haven't run my engine yet, but am highly confident. If the 11 x 2's seal then we have a few potential solutions.

Well if anyone needs obscure o rings, I can contact my source and get em cheap.

It's nice to finally be able to post here! Been waiting months to be approved (just got it today) and god knows I've gotten loads of good info from the site. I'll try to transfer some of my tech stuff from classic-celica here as time permits. I'm just learning, but am building an RA21 ground up restore.

Thanks~Eric

[Night Rider-TA23]

Yep, followed this guide and fixed my leak easy. Cause of leak was the original square section O ring had gone hard with age and heat.

[o_man_ra23]

Yep, followed this guide and fixed my leak easy. Cause of leak was the original square section O ring had gone hard with age and heat.

The original oring was round in section, had gone square with age and wear. It was not originally a square section oring. When I did mine I used 11*2mm and didnt have a drama... squeezed in using engine oil as the lube.

Cheers, Owen

[turbo ke20]

awesome stuff. i will go ahead and fix mine now.

[Turdinator]

Just thought i'd throw in another bit of info to this old thread:
If your a dumbass like me and have the circlip fly across the room never to be found again, a standard 15mm internal circlip will do the job just fine. Mine required a little bit of persuasion to get over the shaft but once i'd done that it snapped cleanly into the groove. The CBC part no. is D1300-0150APP.

[cambelt]

I have a new genuine tensioner if anyone needs, looks the same as the one in the pics.
Dave

[MnToyGuy]

Bump for my restored pic (page 1) that crashed with the CC site. LMK if any other links in my threads are dead, and I'll restore

[w810sc]

bumping up an old thread.

Recently changed the O-ring on an early type upper timing chain tensioner on my 2T-G:

Disassembled:


Where the O-ring goes:


The base:


The housing:


New O-ring installed:






Old (left) vs new (right) O-ring:


SW motor sports upper timing chain tensioner:

[youngster666]

i have just replaced my o ring in the tensioner put it back in but it was too loose does anyone know how much movement i should have or shud i just trial and error

i have about 9mm of movement i dont want to over tighten the chain tho any help appreciated

[w810sc]

knocked this up or ya:

[SilverRA23]

Just checking before I do this to my 18RG... 11x2mm is the most common o-ring being used still?

[MnToyGuy]

Yes it is. Others have had luck with it, I didn't . Use LOTS of lube and if it feels like anything shaved off, redo with a new O-ring. Any damage and it will leak. Remember what blew up our space shuttle????

[o_man_ra23]

Remember what blew up our space shuttle????

American workmanship??
The female driver??