Been doing a lot of online research and looked at all the videos so I was excited to finally pull out and repair my tensioner.
But I've been at it for several hours and it won't come out. Opened the maintenance hole and try to push the thing out and not a millimeter of movement. The only thing it does do is that it twist about a 1/4" inch left and right. I even used a 3" clamp with no luck. I tried to stick a screwdriver on the side to pry it open but nothing. Looking through the maintenance hole it looks like the plunger is fully extended out.

Is there a trick to getting the tensioner out? Should I crank counterclockwise? Any comments would be appreciated.

 

O-rings maybe stuck. Check link starting about 1/3rd the way down the page. Good luck!

https://www.s2ki.com/2012/02/08/diy-...ain-tensioner/

 

Thank you Windhund. I had read that article and didn't see anything about how to get this thing out. Sorry I feel like I have ran out of patience and may have missed reading a sentence or two somewhere where the information is sitting. I am sure I was doing something wrong, but in my case it was definitely stuck and wouldn't come out. As I said I even opened the maintenance hole and tried to push it out but it wasn't moving at all.

 

Whenever you run into a situation like this, stop, and reread all the instructions. See what you missed. Forcing things that shouldn't be forced is gonna real expensive real quick.

Make sure you're sure before you force anything...

 

When I had to deal with a stuck one, I twisted it, then wedged a flat head between the head and the TCT, and twisted the screw driver, popped right out.

 

OP is trying to remove it not install it.

 

Loosen the upper top CAP bolt 5 turns.

Pry the tct out with a screwdriver using this loosened bolt. One of the vtec valve bolts will be a pivot point to pry.

0 damage to anything, it will come right out.

 

Yes, I know. Forcing it out, prying it out wrong. Prying against the gasket sealing surface, etc. The temptation to force things gets you in trouble, removing or installing. That is what I was warning about.

 

The gasket sealing surface is inside the head though (2 rubber o-rings), the only other mating surface is the triangle gasket on the service cover.





As you can see, as long as you don't drive the screwdriver all the way to the main body, there's absolutely zero chance that my method can cause a leak. That said, Billman's method is better.

 

No bad intentions directed towards anybody. Never a good idea to force anything between two parts. Especially when a sealing surface is involved. What op is doing is not familiar with him so his idea of acceptable force is different from mine. Especially aluminum. Again ask me how I know. I've have screwed up in my career on occasion. If a tech tells you different they haven't been doing it very long. Listen to billman250's advice. Only thing that is stopping it is the o-ring and being crooked slightly.