Oil pump chain slack

[Romb 0]

Hi, noticed that the chain has like 1 to 2 cm play on both sides, is that normal ?

 

I understand it's shouldn't be super tight and it's obviously well lubricated, but it does seem very loose and varying rev's may put stress on it from continuous (de-)tensioning.

 

Problem is the car is on the ground and replacing it now while the sump is off seems hardly doable.

 

Hoping it's just how it's supposed to be.

 

150k miles stock 1992 1.9 GTI

Edited February 9, 2020 by Romb

[Andy 105 1 Cars]

Tension is determined by an ‘L’ shaped spacer that fits between the face of the pump and the block. These come in two thicknesses, 0.5 and 1.00mm . If you unbolt the pump(3 bolts) you can slide the spacer out  and check .

 

[Romb 0]

Thanks, will check. Although am a bit hesitant with removing stuff that I won't be able to put back with the car on the ground. Removing pump sounds easy enough but if the chain for whatever reason slides of the top sprocket I guess it could be tricky getting it back on.

 

But just roughly, is there supposed to be play in that chain ? Like being able to wiggle it 1 to 2 cm in the middle between the two sprockets ?

[Thijs_Rallye 87 4 Cars]

It has quite a bit of slack as standard. Don't worry about the top sprocket, the chain doesn't have enough room to come off. Alloy blocks need the thin (0,7mm) spacer, cast iron ones the thick variant (1 mm).

[Romb 0]

44 minutes ago, Thijs_Rallye said:

It has quite a bit of slack as standard. Don't worry about the top sprocket, the chain doesn't have enough room to come off. Alloy blocks need the thin (0,7mm) spacer, cast iron ones the thick variant (1 mm).

Thanks !

 

Couldn't find much on 205 gti's specifically but a general Google does indeed suggest that often there is quite a lot of play in these oil pump chains.

 

I read it also has to do with extension when hot or something, but not quite sure on details, as I can't imagine the block to extend that much (to actually tension the chain) from getting hot and the chain itself shouldn't extend more as it's already slack.

 

But more cars have loose pump chains so that gives some comfort. Sprockets and teeth look fine so guess the wear is within bounds.

[X-mo 20 2 Cars]

Was worried about the chain slack too on my XU10 iron block recently.

Other than on all my 1.9 engines, there was no L-shape spacer at all...nerver saw a oil pump without spacer.

I squeezed a 0,7mm spacer under the pump to get rid of the slack.

 

After tightening up the bolts, there was no slack in the chain but also I wasn't able to turn over the oil pump anymore as there was so much tension.

 

Leason learned:  It seem to be there should be a a little play in the chain.

[Romb 0]

Thanks !

 

I think so too. Also apparently heat is a factor, once the engine's hot things change but what exactly expands or contracts I don't know :-)

 

Better not have the chain tensioned up while cold because that could be failure while hot (says me the layman ;-)