After I pulled out the tensioner when my engine was torn down for a bottom end rebuild I examined it closely. It was a Rolon piston/shoe that I’d installed 23k miles ago. It actually survived pretty well. Minimal wear, no separation. However I looked for the oiling port though the shoe and couldn’t find it.
It was present on the casting, present inside the piston, but missing from the rubber face. After some scrubbing and cleaning and poking I finally found that it had become gummed up. Either from oil sludge or sloughed off rubber. The conical filter was in place and had no debris. Is this common?
I have a new Renold part to install in it’s place when the block comes back. It has the same sized oil port. I was considering over boring that hole in just the rubber slightly in hopes it would be less likely to clog again. Does this seem reasonable/sensible? I can’t see that altering oil pressure at all.
I have no reason to believe the pressure was not adequate behind the shoe. But no way to test it Noe the engine’s torn down. I found no debris behind the tensioner or inside the shoe piston
Actually, the fact that the oil flowing through the hole did not keep it clear indicates to me that the pressure there may not be all that you would expect. Could be that the clearance between the plunger and bore allowed the oil to short-circuit around the hole…I would go with the Renold part, and the modification plan you already have, fwiw.