hi all.
hope you had a great xmas..

ok. so i had my rockercover off today and saw the the chain is way loose but the tensioner seems to have no wear on it at all.
is it possible that the person who put it in didnt release the tensioner or dont they have a setup like that in the 2nd gen 2.6.....

just wondering

thanks in advance

dave

How loose are we talking? They do have a little slack in them.
Is it rattling badly and constantly during normal operation?

If the tensioner wasnt released you'd more than likely have a crook motor after a few hundred kms at most.

The tensioner is adjustable, although it may say 'do not adjust' on a label stuck on the cover. Try adjusting it and see what happens...

How loose are we talking? They do have a little slack in them.
Is it rattling badly and constantly during normal operation?

yeah reasonably bad

If the tensioner wasnt released you'd more than likely have a crook motor after a few hundred kms at most.

The tensioner is adjustable, although it may say 'do not adjust' on a label stuck on the cover. Try adjusting it and see what happens...


ahh the yellow sticker ehh.. how do i go about adjusting it?

cheers

Isn't the timing chain tensioner controlled by the pressure created by the oil pump? Thats what a couple mechanics have told me. So you can't actually adjust the tension it will place on the chain. I don't think. You may be in need of a new oil pump.

Please Please Please only give advice if YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT ffs.

If you had followed what is already posted you would be up for a similar situation as John was with his car (refer my DIY post) although this was not done by John rather than a mechanic!

There are 2 chains, one is the timing chain and on a second gen SHOULD NOT BE LOOSE and IS NOT ADJUSTABLE aside from the hydraulic ratchet tensioner

Second is a balance chain, this has a non ratchet hydraulic tensioner as well as an adjustable guide.

In most (90%) of cases it is the balance chain which will rattle, usually initially for a few seconds at start up and then as it gets worse at idle as well. Remember I am talking second Gen not first as these have no hydraulic tensioner for the balance chain.

Mate, you are in SA? Drop around and let me have a quick look at what you have there, I will be able to give you a better indication of how urgent the situation is. If your timing chain has stretched that far that could be a good reason for the bad idle as well.

For the record, John drove for 18 months with his tensioner locked off before I got to it.

Please Please Please only give advice if YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT ffs.

If you had followed what is already posted you would be up for a similar situation as John was with his car (refer my DIY post) although this was not done by John rather than a mechanic!

There are 2 chains, one is the timing chain and on a second gen SHOULD NOT BE LOOSE and IS NOT ADJUSTABLE aside from the hydraulic ratchet tensioner

Second is a balance chain, this has a non ratchet hydraulic tensioner as well as an adjustable guide.

In most (90%) of cases it is the balance chain which will rattle, usually initially for a few seconds at start up and then as it gets worse at idle as well. Remember I am talking second Gen not first as these have no hydraulic tensioner for the balance chain.

Mate, you are in SA? Drop around and let me have a quick look at what you have there, I will be able to give you a better indication of how urgent the situation is. If your timing chain has stretched that far that could be a good reason for the bad idle as well.

For the record, John drove for 18 months with his tensioner locked off before I got to it.


hey where abouts are you.

as for it not supposed to be loose i guess it would be hard to tell without the pressure on the tensioner wouldnt it.

thanks for the advice.. i am more adept at car electricle than mechanical unfortunatly....

Please Please Please only give advice if YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT ffs.

If you had followed what is already posted you would be up for a similar situation as John was with his car (refer my DIY post) although this was not done by John rather than a mechanic!

There are 2 chains, one is the timing chain and on a second gen SHOULD NOT BE LOOSE and IS NOT ADJUSTABLE aside from the hydraulic ratchet tensioner

Second is a balance chain, this has a non ratchet hydraulic tensioner as well as an adjustable guide.

In most (90%) of cases it is the balance chain which will rattle, usually initially for a few seconds at start up and then as it gets worse at idle as well. Remember I am talking second Gen not first as these have no hydraulic tensioner for the balance chain.

For the record, John drove for 18 months with his tensioner locked off before I got to it.

Apologies :redface: ... must be that time of the month. lol jk mate.

From what i was 'told' (and no i'm not saying this is correct), the timing chain has a little slack in it. Slack as in, if you push on the chain it will flex, not the whole chain wobbling about.

At what point in time (over the 18 month period) did the problem begin to cause damage?.. i would have thought that after a few hundred kms a fair bit or wear would have already occured. But fair enough...

So just to get this right... (for my own knowledge), the ratchet mechanism needs to be released after the chain is installed right? How would i go about doing this, the tensioner needs to be in position prior to release i guess so is there a special tool or something to get down to it behind the case or something :confused: ?

Cheers for correcting me, not only for the sake of grief to other members, but i now know that the adjustable guide belongs to the balance chain and not the timing chain. And once again, apologies to lord_davros & other members... i had misconstrued thoughts about the adjustment of the guide.

Apologies :redface: ... must be that time of the month. lol jk mate.

From what i was 'told' (and no i'm not saying this is correct), the timing chain has a little slack in it. Slack as in, if you push on the chain it will flex, not the whole chain wobbling about.

At what point in time (over the 18 month period) did the problem begin to cause damage?.. i would have thought that after a few hundred kms a fair bit or wear would have already occured. But fair enough...

So just to get this right... (for my own knowledge), the ratchet mechanism needs to be released after the chain is installed right? How would i go about doing this, the tensioner needs to be in position prior to release i guess so is there a special tool or something to get down to it behind the case or something :confused: ?

Cheers for correcting me, not only for the sake of grief to other members, but i now know that the adjustable guide belongs to the balance chain and not the timing chain. And once again, apologies to lord_davros & other members... i had misconstrued thoughts about the adjustment of the guide.

No worries mate, it is nice for a change for someone to not mind being ocrrected without having a cry lol

The tensioner is pushed back when installed, some tie it off, some just hold it while the chain is set up and then let go. I tied it off but as with all situations, I use something which will foul on the timing cover should I get distracted and forget to remove.

Initially the chain is fairly tight anyway regardless of the tensioner, over time the chain stretches (mostly at idle due to the cam "jerking" as the rockers travel over the cam lobes)

Once some revs are gained, the chain will have little use for the tensioner, if you kept the revs above 3k at all times you would not need one.

Oh ok!



Once some revs are gained, the chain will have little use for the tensioner, if you kept the revs above 3k at all times you would not need one.

Thats info's quite interesting...:)