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Do you have the bentley manual or access to saab shop manuals? They both recommend not turning the engine opposite normal rotation. I'm in the middle of a tensioner replacement on my 85 16Valve turbo. I removed the valve cover gasket to inspect the chain and cam sprockets because the chain was making noise. SAAB has a procedure to check for chain stretch that involves putting number one cylinder at top dead center on the compression stroke. The zero timing mark on the flywheel will be centered at the timing mark. With the #1 piston at TDC, two index marks on the cams will line up with stationary points in the bearings that hold the cams. These points are at the end of the cam that is adjacent to the windshield. Believe me, a picture is worth a thousand words at this point. If the cam isn't overly stretched, you can replace the tensioner and the rubber chain guide that is in the valve cover. The rubber upper guide gets hard and a loose chain can hit it, making noise.
I've also read a post on this board that said the tensioner extension shouldn't exceed 11 mm in length.
I tried turning the engine backward when trying to line up the timing marks, believe me if you saw what the chain looked like during this process, I don't think you'd want to roll your car 25 mph backwards! I think a loose chain might bind and break.
The biggest problem with the job is that the tensioner is hidden under the airconditioner compressor, which is a bit of a pain to get out, not hard, but time consuming.
My car had the "old" style tensioner which ahad a flat hex hex, about 1 1/16 inch wrench size. The new improved version has a secind 10 mm nut on top of the large hex nut. The little nut serves to compress the tensioner spring.
good luck.
joe c.
posted by 66.44.11...
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