well finally at 270k miles my rear vtc went or so I thought, just got finished replacing them with new ones but same exact sound. I grounded out the rear soplenoid and motor bogged alittle but no difference in sound. I just dont feal like messing with that front cover for a little. but I got spare rebuilt heads so i might just swap em out. it ran pretty good though it pulled hard till about 5k then practically ran out of breath , but thats a prob for another day.


to get to the lifters do i have to take the vtc back off and remove both cams or could i just take the caps off and pull the rocker and and lifter out?

 

if you rebuilt the VTCs and the noise remains then chances are it is one of the chain tensioners on the way out

 

When you have the valve covers off, the TSB on the VTC ticking has a test for the tensioners. Pull the ECU relay and crank the engine. When the oil light goes out (pressure up) the tensioners should hold the slack side of the chain taught. If the chain still flaps on the slack side then the tensioner is bad. (This was my problem)

 

U guys are right i think it is the tensioner. I remember when i tried pushing the front one to freel up tension it was very hard but the back rear one had little or no tension. I just dont feel like taking it all apart again. hell i dont even have a driveway to work on it. just a dirt sidewalk. thanx again guys for the info

 

Actually what you are describing is normal, thats just how it works out when doing the vtc job, one side will have slack on the tensioner and the other will not.

When doing the vtc job, I would reccomend doing one side at a time, and to crank the engine to make sure there is slack on the tensioner side. If you do them both at the same time it will be a pita since you will have to rotate the cam to spring load it in order to get the chain to line up when reassembling.

If your ticking sound goes away when applying just a little gas, then its definitly a tensioner. I was lucky to have diagnosed a bad tensioner just prior to doing the vtc job. I replaced both top ones, the lower is not easily accessable to say the least.

 

To clairify, when the cam's rotating the side of the timing chain facing the front of the car will be taught and the side of the timing chain facing the firewall will be loose. WHEN THE ENGINE IS ROTATING, SUCH AS WITH THE STARTER, the tensioner pumps up with oil and the foot comes out and pushes against the chain rear, taking up it's slack. If, when the engine is rotating and when the oil light goes out, the firewall side of one of the chains is flapping, then the tensioner is no good.