Timing Chain Rattle???

A

AlexWh

On cold start there is a noise, coming from near the alternator (but not from the alternator itself) that sounds like someone is rattling a spanner, at high speed, inside an empty tin can. It has become so loud that it has been known for people to rush over in car parks and warn my missus her car is about to explode. It can last a while (20 - 30 seconds) before subsiding. I've taken the old girl (and the car) off the road for now but that means I have to drive her to work, which is a pain..
I'm thinking this noise is most likely to be the fabled "timing chain rattle" and most probably caused by failed tensioners?
Can anyone that has dealt with this problem confirm the likelihood of my diagnosis... before I start buying parts and embarking on the epic teardown described in the Haynes manual?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Semi-Synthetic, TripleQX, 10w-40. I recently did a full service and oil change and come to think of it the noise has been much worse since then.
 
The car only does 1500 miles a year (all short journeys) and gets an annual oil and filter change, its only got about 75k on the clock.
 
its the k12 that had the chain problems alex, on k11,s its usually the top tensioners that wear down to bare metal
 
7q3bGAz (1).jpeg
 
Thanks Frank,

I read your reply on another thread saying that the top chain alone is a 30 minute job (that'll still be 5 hours for me), presumably I can access it without the full Haynes manual tear-down? Can you provide any guidance? I'd like to check it before buying a full kit blindly.
 
The top one is indeed the one that fails most of the time. Also quite easy to replace and check. Remove cam cover, Jack up the engine. Remove the motormount on the driver side, Remove the chain cover and you can access the tentioner. To check you only need to remove the cam cover and then you should be able to shine a light at it.
 
There are two sealing o-rings that Haynes said I need to replace after taking off the timing chain cover.

Research has revealed them as part no. 1506660U00 but I cannot find a source of supply in the UK. Even my local Nissan dealer couldn't help.

Does anyone have any idea where I might get some? Or will I be OK to reuse the current ones?

Thanks again.
 
You only need those if you remove the whole timing chain cover. (the big bottom one thats behind the crankshaft pulley not the top one) A good timing chain kit has those in it.
 
Thanks for taking the trouble to provide the link. They have the part, and at a fair price too but it has to come from Japan and won't be here until the end of the month. Interestingly, they say it also fits Infiniti models M35 and Q45, whatever they are.
 
Yeah Infinity uses a few Nissan motors.

A proper dealer should be able to order it. Most wont because it will come from Japan and will take a while
 
I didn't do the whole job, just the upper tensioner. I bought a full kit because it cost about the same as a tensioner alone, unless I was prepared to wait weeks for one to come from overseas.

Here is the one I took off. Tensioner.jpg :


Clearly it needed doing, but it wasn't actually the source of the horrible noise. That came from the cow-bell shaped heat-shield attached to the upper catalyser. One of the two fixing points had corroded through leaving it detatched on one side to clang about. I'd already checked and secured the heat-shields under the car but didn't notice this one. I took it off for now, noises gone..

Once again many thanks to Maarten and Frank.

Next job - passenger side outer cv joint ( when the weather warms up a bit and the days are longer.)
 

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