How much slack in the timing chain ?

[Mettler]

So I was turning my motor over by hand last night to check something out, and I happened to notice that as I turned it bit by bit, it would occasionally reach a point where the exhaust cam would hesitate for just a moment.

The timing chain would go slightly slack between the two cams, and then as I turned it a bit more, the cam would flick forward and the chain would snap tight again.

Is this normal under these circumstances, seeing as the cams are under pressure from the valve springs ? Or have I lost tension somewhere along the line ?

[Raxephon]

Check the tensioners themselves.

If they are old/high mileage they tend to not produce as much tension as they would new or with low mileage.

Also check to make sure the plastic absorber is still intact on the tensioners as well.

[Mettler]

Cheers dude ! I think I have figured out what it was ! My timing chain setup has got a chain going from the crank up to an idler on each side, and then a duplex chain from the idler to the cams, so four cam chains in total. The top chain was simply slacking a bit since the engine wasn't running, and there was no oil pressure to the VTC solenoid.