timing chain question. sounds just like the VTC's but louder.
 

i have a tick in my engine, allll the time. Makes the engine kinda sound like its running dry. when i start it in cold weather, its really loud, but once it warms up, its just there when i accellerate. Now, it's coming from the side with the VTC's and the timing chain, but it sounds like the timing chain is loose and hitting the valve cover, (ive heard that sounds before) but it's moderately louder than the VTC's on my last maxima. Any ideas? Anyone ever had their timing chain beat up the valve covers?

i have the same problem

i went to a heavier oil and it quite some but i need to pull the motor apart and check it

dunno if that helped any

Kyle Cisneros

are you sure ur mainfolds arent coming off?

Could be the timming chain tensioners. I had atleast one go bad, but the noise was minor at the time (caught it early). I replaced both upper timming chain tensioners when doing a VTC rebuild.

The noise from the tensioners went away when the rpm was greater than idle.

how many miles on the motor? timing chains and or tensioners/guides do eventually wear out. I think grace imports had one come apart on him once.

When I did my job the engine had around 120k miles on it, and the guides looked like new, so don't waste your money on the guides. The tensioners have hard plastic/teflon surfaces that had deep grooves in them from the chain. I wish I could have replaced the lower tensioner, but that is not very accesible with the engine in the bay.

The engine that came out of the car had the front VTC come apart and make havoc with the front cover and chains etc. I suspect a bad VTC rebuild. The car is a 92 and had 133k miles on it when it happened. The engine looked good other than the damage. I bought the car like that so I don't know the whole story on what happened but that's my best guess. Other engines (22re Toyota and KA24E) will break the plastic guide rails and allow the chains to run holes into the timing cover. I have seen one ran like that until it destroyed the engine. I would go in and find out what's happening ASAP before it's too late.

I think this happened to a guy I know. The 'VTC's' never would quiet down even when grounded. It must have been the timing chain tensioner. It busted one day shredding lots of things. That engine only made it to 180K... :D