Same here. I went finger tight with the pretensioner plus ~1/8th turn with the wrench. Timing tools fell right back into place after torquing sprocket bolts, installing tensioner, and rotating the engine a couple of turns.

Made me nervous, but I couldn't justify the $$$ for a torque wrench I'd probably never use again...

 

I just ended up putting in the tensioner and torquing it down. The alternative linked instructions don’t use the tensioner tool.

I couldn’t even find a torque wrench that went below 10 in pounds at Snap On.

 

I hate saying this but by torquing it ALL the way down before tightening the cam gear / VANOS bolts all the spring adjustment in the tensioner is gone. By using the tool and just going finger tight plus a smidge (sorry not on the torque wrench settings) before locking the cam gear / VANOS down it allows the tensioner spring to do its job, keeping tension in the chain as the VANOS varies the cam position, everything wears, and the chain "stretches". I predict early chain/guide failure. I recommend getting new bolts and resetting the timing correctly. Please somebody chime in and say I am wrong.

 

Hi Ctweber , could you please report if you finish the repair and if it was successful to eliminate the smoke.

 

Yes, finished. Smoking gone!
Thanks to all who helped!

 

I just successfully replaced the valve stem seals on my 2009 JCW using the same tool as CtWeber, a leak down tester, and a helper. Everything went as planned. It was good advice to start on cylinder 2 or 3, thank you to who recommended that.

Also, this method of installing the valve keepers with a small flat head screwdriver and some grease was helpful. . We tried with a magnet at first and it wasn't cooperating for us.

I still need to put it together but hopefully, the stoplight smoke is gone.

 

One thing I forgot, the cross-bar on the tool I received was a little too long. it was hitting the engine lift bracket on one side, and an intake pipe on the other. We decided to take off 2 inches from the bar.


Here it is mounted to the cylinder head using the bearing cap holes. The lever is in the back there. I used paper towels to plugs up the spark plug holes and a few other holes that made me nervous.

 

Hey everyone. So I'm about to do this job as well, and came across this thread. Thanks for all of the information provided by everyone here, by the way. I did have a quick, possibly dumb question about the 'rope method' in this particular instance. As I've always understood it (on simpler cam-in-block applications) you stuff the chamber with rope btdc and then rotate and compress the rope against the valves before releasing the collets. Is this the same process you guys are using here, i.e. removing the crank lock tool, rotating as needed to do each cylinder, then re-positioning and re-locking the crank before reassembly? Or are you able to do this by just stuffing enough rope into each cylinder, without rotating/compressing it? Thanks for the clarification, and again for the information.

 

You got it right. Stuff the rope in the cylinder and then rotate towards that piston TDC till it won't go any more.

 

Copy that, thanks for confirming.