Ok so I am in the process of replacing my water pump and I am having some difficulties getting the plunger of the tensioner to go back into the housing. I have the chilton manual but its not very helpful.

Are there any tricks to compressing the tensioner?

 

You have to pull the slide on the front all the way back, past where the holes line up, that will allow the plunger to be depressed (the little keyway on top will do the same thing). Then let the plunger out just enough to line up the slide hole with the hole on the tensioner and then put an allen wrench in it to hold the plunger down in place.

 

Yeah I tried that and it wasnt moving, I was afraid of using too much force and possibly damaging something. Is it supposed to be really hard to push in?

 

No, it has a lockout ratchet type mechanism that prevents it from going back in under pressure, but if you pull the slide on the front all the way back it will release the cam and let the plunger depress easily.

Is this still in the car? If so, I had to advance the motor by hand with a rachet to create enough slack in the timing chain to get the pressure to release.