Hi all, I have just bought a TS 2.6 really good car as it only has 142,000 k's on the clock, but it has the timing chain rattle, you can mostly hear it rattling when the motor is hot when its idling, above about 1000 rpm it goes away though and when you turn the motor off you can hear chain rattling just before the motor stops turning. I tried adjusting the tensioner but really made no difference. The chain really only starts to rattle at idle when the motor is at operating temp, when its cooler it doesn't make a sound. Any ideas on how this can be fixed? does the chains need replacing? can this be done with the motor in the car ?

cheers

Dean

The fix is to replace the whole lot - both chains, guides, and cogs if they are worn.
At 142,000 km there shouldn't be a rattle, unless the oil squirter is blocked and the chains have been running dry, or the oil pump pressure relief valve is stuck open and you got very little hot idle oil pressure. .
(Oil squirter is on the block, just above the crank cog - points down and lubricates everything moving. Run the engine for a bit, then take the rocker cover off and see if the top of the chain is oiled or dry, this will tell you if the oil squirter is working.)

I've done this job on Sigma motors, but only out of the car. Pretty difficult on a sideways Magna motor still in the car, I would imagine.

Now you know why the chain drive was abandoned for the belt drive.

Generally is actually the Balance Chain that rattles, the timing chain in these motors gives very little trouble for this sort of mileage. Will have sfa to do with oil pumps, squirters etc etc

If you can still get them the best bet is to use the balance eliminator kit and replace the timing chain and guides while you are at it. Ideally would be to get a complete kit with the gears if you can, I have listings for the kits but not for the eliminator kits as they are getting hard to get and I am not aware of anyone still making them as far as the suppliers I have

The fix is to replace the whole lot - both chains, guides, and cogs if they are worn.
At 142,000 km there shouldn't be a rattle, unless the oil squirter is blocked and the chains have been running dry, or the oil pump pressure relief valve is stuck open and you got very little hot idle oil pressure. .
(Oil squirter is on the block, just above the crank cog - points down and lubricates everything moving. Run the engine for a bit, then take the rocker cover off and see if the top of the chain is oiled or dry, this will tell you if the oil squirter is working.)

I've done this job on Sigma motors, but only out of the car. Pretty difficult on a sideways Magna motor still in the car, I would imagine.

Now you know why the chain drive was abandoned for the belt drive.

Thanks so much for your reply MadMax, yes at only 142,000 I thought there shouldn't be much timing chain rattle, I will do the what you suggested and take the rocker cover off and check the chain for lubrication. When I turn the motor off when its hot you can really hear the chain flopping about hitting the timing case just before it stops turning, I guess one chain runs the balance shafts and the other one drives the cam shaft, not sure which one is making all the noise or maybe both of them are. cheers

i,ll done a couple gen2 timing chains in the car.
its a pain in the arse your better of taking the motor out.

Generally is actually the Balance Chain that rattles, the timing chain in these motors gives very little trouble for this sort of mileage. Will have sfa to do with oil pumps, squirters etc etc

If you can still get them the best bet is to use the balance eliminator kit and replace the timing chain and guides while you are at it. Ideally would be to get a complete kit with the gears if you can, I have listings for the kits but not for the eliminator kits as they are getting hard to get and I am not aware of anyone still making them as far as the suppliers I have

Thanks so much for your reply Madmagna, yes I have heard of the balance eliminator kit but don't know anything about it or how it works, does the motor still run as smooth if you bipass the balance shafts? I'm not planning on keeping the car very long so i don't want to spend too much money on it, but I would like to fix that dam rattle. Do you have the kit just for the balance shaft chain? cheers

At 142,000 km there shouldn't be a rattle
There is the odd one that developed problems. Very good friend of mine brought round a not quite two year old 4cyl Ts wagon 30k on the clock for me to look over before he bought it. Gave him the thumbs up and he purchased off the dealer. It was immaculate!!
6 weeks later he came back and said got a random rattle thats getting steadily worse.......Took it for a spin and every now and then at idle you could hear it. Take it to the dealer and show them i said to him while you still got the warranty.
They could not pinpoint the exact cause and unusual for such low km but suspected it was the chains. They removed the motor and replaced everything that end including oil pump to be safe and was still going strong 5 years later when he sold it. Was an ex Sydney water board car so whether it was all the city driving and possibly flogging from the lights i don't know but was a rarity but have heard of others. Vee

I had a TS 2.6L that I sold at 220,000 km (or so), not a single sign of misbehaving chains while I owned it, so they can be trouble free.

Rebuild some Sigma 2.0L and one 2.6L before I went to Magnas, all of them needed rebores, crank grinds, pistons, rings, bearings, new chains/guides and all of them had somewhere between 160 to 200,000 Km on them.

Now own no chain driven Mitsus, I'm pleased to say.

Doing a belt drive every 100,000km/5 years is so much less trauma. lol

Yes i prefer belts had a few early nissan Maximas and alot quieter motors.
Too many people are wary of belt driven engines but if you look after and maintain them they are very good indeed!!
Got a TP with 275k on the clock and she rattles away like crazy when you first start but is a parts donor so not going to touch it unless i need too.
the head was done up just prior to me buying it just a pity they did not put another chain in it as well.
I have threaded a few chains thru on lower mileage Magnas to keep them going a bit longer before needing to do the whole lot as such a pain with the motor in situ. Fancy designing a motor where you have to tilt it to get the bottom pulley off with the engine in place!!! Vee

If your chain rattling replace sooner than replace later. I found out the hard way. My car did 300,000kms and the chain rattle and chew and broke everything in it way lol Cost me $1000 to put it right lol. Now it don't rattles it just has a tapped sound lol My car likes to annoy me, waiting for the engine to die I bet it won't lol

Like i said

parts donor so not going to touch it unless i need too.


Doesn't go anywhere just sits and contemplates its wild carefree past. Vee

does the motor still run as smooth if you bipass the balance shafts?

Madmagna (Mal) removed them in my TS years ago when he was in Adelaide and can confirm you will not notice any difference with idle/smoothness

Madmagna (Mal) removed them in my TS years ago when he was in Adelaide and can confirm you will not notice any difference with idle/smoothness

Ok cool, thanks for your reply