I'm hoping someone can give me an idea what I'm looking at here.
02SE No codes, oil level is good, 43000 miles.

Here's a link to a vid.
And another.

I really appreciate the help.

Adam

 

Sounds like a loose timing chain.

 

looks like the passenger side by over by the timing chain correct? (video was a little dark) could be your timing chain tensioner sprocket. that seems to be a common problem on the 5th gen usually only at startup though.

 

was it cold or warm?

 

Could be timing chain slap (cause is a bad tensioner), sounds like my 626 did when the tensioner went bad. Does it go away when you rev the engine? If it is the tensioner, once you rev the engine, it puts enough tension on the chain to quiet it down.

 

The car has been cold for the most part. On 11/26 it was fine, my wife moved the car from the driveway into the garage on the 27th and didn't notice anything. When she started the car to go to work yesterday she came running into the house telling me to go listen to the car.

It's hard for me to tell for sure if it goes away when the engine is reved but I think it does. Those videos were taken just after the car had warmed up some but not what I would consider normal operating temp. Yes it seems to be more predominate on the passenger side. I will post up a longer video this afternoon with better lighting.

Thanks for the help guys!!

 

This maybe difficult to do, but take a long screwdriver and place it on the timing chain case while motor is running, put your ear to the end of the screwdriver. You should should clearly hear that clanking if it's the chain.

 

time for an oil change or better oil, I'd say.

 

Been using Mobile1 since 1st oil change, using M1 filter too. Last change was under 2500 miles ago.

Here are a couple more vids. The 1st one is startup and the 2nd has some reving of the motor 2500-3000 rpm.

Vid1
Vid2

Also when my wife came and got me after she 1st noticed it the noise it did seem louder than it does now.

 

one of the timing chain guides needs to be replaced?

 

Definitely sounds like it is coming from the timing chain area.

 

On my infinity g20 which i had just before my maxima i had a similar sound and i could have sworn it was coming from my timing chain area. It turned out to be a bad bearing in my alternator. It would go away once things got warm and sometimes come back when i got the revs up but i didnt do anything major about it because the car wasnt worth the trouble. finally the alternater went out and i could hear the sound when i spun the pulley. That may be something to look at.

 

Well I drove it to a shop today and on the way there it pretty much went away so I'm very hopeful that it's a time chain tensioner sprocket issue.

I'll post when I know more.

Thanks for the info guys.

 

I was using regular 87 gas and switched to premium 93 and lost the sound, not sure if that helps...

 

You're talking about predentionation or pinging/knocking. Diffrent issue. The issue being discussed here is the timing chain rattle most of us hear wen we start our cars.