1991 Q45 Promblems, loud noise

[jawinter]

Hello All, i have a 1991 q45 with 150k on it. i was driving the car today and the car started making a loud noise. the question i have, is how often do oil pump chians break, and how hard are they to replace.

[Q451990]

They tend to break or fall off when the chain guides fail... but that's more of an "my engine shut off and never ran again" kind of problem. Want to describle the noise?

Heath

[jawinter]

the noise is consistant and it sounds like it is coming from the front of the engine. i was being real hard on the engine last night and it didnt show any problems last night. the oil level is fine, and looks fine, and smells fine. if the oil chain is fine, which it might be, how often do the bottom ends fail on these cars?

[ScottJackson]

grab a fan blade and wiggle it back and forth (front to back, not rotate side to side). If the fan clutch is shot then it may be the issue. Also check to see if the belt tensioners may be shot. You can make a cheapie stethoscope of sorts by just taking a piece of rubber hose and putting one end up to your ear while moving the other end around the engine until you locate from where the noise is coming. Is it a tapping noise? Grinding noise? Buzzing? Banging? Dull thud? Sharp thud? Does it change directly with RPM?