HOW-TO: Fix Your Timing Chain Rattle

[ILikeMy240sx]

S13 DOHC and S14 procedure should be similar except when it comes to adjusting the distributor. I included the picture of how S13 distributor should look like when its aligned properly. Other than that everything should be similar

[sXi]

how do you tell when to replace the whole timing chain thing

[Blade7764]

my s13 is SOHC tho, thats the prob

[Neejay]

my s13 is SOHC tho, thats the prob

Same here....so far no one has posted a how-to/common problem for SOHC

I guess no one bothers with it...

[Blade7764]

It sounds like its the same problem, so all we have to do is remove the upper guide on our SOHC engines.

[scarboroughdub]

so let me get this straight, you remove the guides completely and you dont buy new ones to replace them, you just assemble the cover back on and your set .

let me know cause i got the rattle problem right now and i was going to go to the dealership and buy all new parts thanks.

[ILikeMy240sx]

those two upper guides.. NOT THE LOWER TIMING CHAIN GUIDE are considered useless by Nissan. Its found in their TSB.. Nissan says you get rid of it. Go to the dealership and ask for those parts and theyll just say you dont need it.

[Neejay]

those two upper guides.. NOT THE LOWER TIMING CHAIN GUIDE are considered useless by Nissan. Its found in their TSB.. Nissan says you get rid of it. Go to the dealership and ask for those parts and theyll just say you dont need it.

DOHC right?

[ILikeMy240sx]

YUP they did it for the DOHC but not too sure about SOHC. Doesnt hurt to see what people did with it.

But upper timing chain guides are usually useless it seems with Nissans

[VinceSez]

if i were to remove the two guides i wont have the "ticking of death" problem any more? or will it just slow down the problem?

[SlIp'n'sLiDe]

thanks for the good write up, just inspired me to do this.

[silviaxspress]

6 months after reading this post, I have finally decided to try work on my car.

I need help. I am stuck at the tensioner. It will not move at all! I have tried pushing the tensioner inward toward the chain and outward, but it just doesn't move. A new top tensioner would cost me $42.00, but should i change the bottom tensioner as well($38.00)??? There seems to be a lot more parts involve that needs to be remove, is this so? Please advise me as what i would need to remove so I have some idea before moving foward to replace tensioner(s). My dad is arguing that there might be a way to adjust the tensioners, which I keep saying NO. Is is true that tensioners cannot be adjusted?

At this moment, I have put it on hold. I will post pics of my chain guides later. It did not have much wear or rub on them.

Here how it looks like under the hood.

Now, here is a close up of where my timing tension is currently stopped at, an not even moving. It did move like 1/8" when pushing tword the chain, but that was about it.

Here are 2 videos to show how difficult it was. Video #1Had a real difficult time, can't figure out why it's so stiff! Used some Wd-40, but it didn't help. https://www.csupomona.edu/~rvan/MVI_5294.AVI

Video #2This video shows me moving the timing chain. Is it suppose to be that loose?https://www.csupomona.edu/~rvan/MVI_5303.AVI


Modified by silviaxspress at 2:51 AM 6/21/2005

[ILikeMy240sx]

Seems like your top tensioner is gone.... If you saw the video that I have... its obvious that your tensioner has something stuck in it or its just plain broken.

No there is no way to adjust these tensioners... They are operated by oil pressure.. its not like a belt tensioner where you can just tighten it.

In order to move your bottom tensioner, you have to remove the front cover I think and thats a PITA to do.. if your bottom tensioner moves fine then I would just leave it.

Make sure there is nothing stuck behind that top tensioner... If its still stuck.. Id replace it.

BTW, my chain did that too when I took the cam sprocket cover off... I suppose the tensioner isnt really tight yet... I think it will be tight when you start the motor...

[sanioll]

put some soft clothing there, and start hitting it with a hammer, SOFTLY. To see if you can move the tensioner.

OKAY, I GOT NEWS FOR YOU PEOPLE.

MY S13 KA24DE WAS TICKING AS USUAL RIGHT. 114,000 MILES. N/A. ALL STOCK WITH K&N FILTER.

LONG STORY SHORT. IT WAS TICKING BACK THEN, WHEN I WAS USING REGULAR PETROLIUM OIL.

LATER I SWITCHED TO MOBIL 1 FULL SYNTHETIC 10W-30, IT WAS STILL TICKING.

LAST WEEK, I WENT TO MOBIL 1 0W-40, WHICH I LIKE A LOT.

TO MY SURPRISE, THE TICKING IS GONE. YES, ITS GONE BABE!!

I HAVE ONLY REMOVED ONE TOP CHAIN GUIDE. THE ONE THAT SITS UNDER THE VALVE COVER. 2ND ONE IS STILL THERE, AND IT WAS TICKING. NOW WITH HEAVIER OIL IT DOES NOT.

*JUST SO YOU ALL KNOW.

[Remmik]

Like everyone said; Great write up!

I was going to delve into this problem but I think it just got worse.Here is the story so far....

My girl always took such great care of her Altima and always changed the oil on time (or sooner) but suposedly her chain guides fell apart and were making an awful noise. I was out of town and she had it towed to a mechanic who found the problem. After quoting her $1400 for the work she decided to buy a new Altima Coupe (Sweet ride This all started "all of a sudden" after she took it to get the oil changed while I was out of town. She took it to a new place where I had taken it to only twice before. Two days after, this happened. No small ticking sounds, no warnings just BAMM! loud flapping sound the next time she started it. When I got back the first thing I did was minor checks (had no tools there) and check the oil. It was way over filled! I took it to different oil change place and had them drain the excess oil. It was 2 quarts over. I can't believe this could be done on accident! Do you (or anyone) know if this could have led to her issue?

I was hoping the mechanic was wrong and the noise was just from being over filled but the noise was still the same. The strange thing was that the noise went away over 2K RPM (even before draining the oil) and ran fine regardless of the new noise. I had no other means, as money was tight so I drove it to a place where I could work on it. It was a smooth ride and the noise was gone for most of the trip since I was on the hiway but it was about 90 miles away. I parked it and it seemed fine. When I test drove it one more time, and really wished I hadn't, this is what hapened; On the short drive the noise changed but didn't sound worse or louder...just different. I knew this wasn't good. At the next light the idle seemed very rough (always had smooth idle). Got it back to the yard, parked it and all seemed OK. Although, when I went out to move it into the work area it would not start. It barely cranked. straining then giving a little then back to starining. I stopped any futher attemps.

I know everyone that reads this would flame me for saying I drove this thing but I actually (because of many personal issue) had to..so lets move past that

I'm finding it hard to get good info on wether or not the valves get bent if the timing chain breakes or jumps a few teeth. I've read post where people have stated that their chain broke but did not make any mention of bent valves or head jobs. I was thinking about pulling the engine to make the job easier as I'm able to work on it on the side. Now that this got worse I'm pretty sure I'm going to. I always take great pics of my projects but never get around to posting them. Well maybe this go around.

As a side note, I have my '95 Z taken apart as my timing belt tesioner froze up (never seen that) and the belt Almost slipped. Luckly I stopped driving that one right away The belt had only a bit of slack but had started rubbing on the plastic timing cover. It's a running joke because I always seem to have similar issues with multiple cars that I own (or take care of). Sucks having so many broke down Nissans in the collection.

[rachel_roxanna]

You can just remove the top guide but alot of people have reported that even with the top one removed, they still hear slight ticking and trust me most of them regret that they didnt remove the #2 guide while they were removing the #1... As seen in the picture above, its clear that #2 guide also has wear on it. Sooner or later depending on the condidion of the tensioner, that wear is going to get bigger and bigger until the guide snaps, falls into the front cover and breaks the chain and kaboom (worst case scenario)... I suggest you remove the side guide while you are at it.

BTW, the chains are hitting the guides because the chain is loose. So be sure to clean and check the condition of the tensioner instead of just removing the guides. You can do this for both bottom and top tensioner with the camshaft sprocket cover off so go ahead and do the entire job while you are at it

I just had my valve cover powdercoated and so I changed the gasket and decided to remove just the top chain guide while I was in there. (I didnt want to take out the distributor or the sproket cover). So I was extremely careful and did everything right, as far as I can tell, but when I started it up, the oil light was on, and this horrendous noise is now coming from the front of the engine, where the chain is. So I immediately shut it off, and took the cover back off. I see the chain has slack by the side guide, but it is tight on top and on the other side, by the tensioner. I was thinking I may have gotten a little RTV inside, and it could be blocking an oil passage, or clogging the oil pump? Or, maybe just taking the top guide off threw things off enough to screw something up? Or maybe the tensioner needs cleaning? Can I spray WD40 on it with it still inside so I don't have to take the sproket cover off?? Could the chain have jumped a tooth? It started fine, but I didn't run it long enought to see if there was power loss. Btw, I checked and the oil was full and it wasnt leaking a drop of oil.

[sunrat]

Ok, sorry noob coming through here. If I wanted to replace just my valve cover gasket can I just remove the tensioner that I see there and remove the two screws that hold it in place as well? Do I have to do all this TDC stuff in the beginning? I guess I am confused because I see people reply about removing the tensioner that you see when you replace your valve cover gasket and they dont mention anything about TDC stroke and stuff. Thanks!