secondary tensioner question?

C

ChrisLS8

Active LVC Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2011
Messages
106
Reaction score
0
Location
Roseville
So yesterday my tensioner started rattling and right away I ordered new ones from Christopher Parts, as the dealer is backordered and can't even do emergency order. however they do not arrive until the 11th. I pulled the covers to see if the slack was bad and its only slight slap at idle.

I switched to a thicker weight oil to help tension at idle and it helped a little. And it hasn't popped a CEL yet either. My question is will I be ok driving this until my parts show up? My gut says yes since I've heard of people driving for months like this but its my only car while my turbo Nissan is under the knife again.
 
Yes you will be OK driving it. Just be easy on her.
Dont get up on it and floor it because you dont want to Jump a tooth on the Exhaust cam because then your Cyl number 7 and possibly 6 will Misfire and Cause it to run like :q:q:q:q.

Drive her for now. But basically just be easy. Add some Lucas oil stabilizer in it also. Should quiet it down a little bit for now and help everything in the engine aswell.
I drove mine with the tensioner the way it was for about a month.. Bad I know but Money was REALLY tight.

I also suggest going ahead and buying yourself the Secondary timing chain with master link also. Because usually when the Tensioners go your Chain will start stretching and all. Best to go ahead and replace the hardware while under the Valve cover :)
 
Thanks for the info. However that oil stabilizer is baaad stuff. If you search on bitog.com (website about oils) you will see that will turn your engine oil into a foam froth haha.

I think I will be alright on the chain stretch however, I only drive about 7 miles a day except for this next weekends which is a two hour drive.:(

Luckily my friends shop specializes in Fords and has the cam lock tool, flywheel lock and sprocket tensioner I need
 
Well so far I havent had a problem with the Stabilizer but thanks for the heads up on it!

Also I Never used a Cam tool for mine. I just Lined up the flats of the cams and did it by eye. You have about 1/2 ro 1/4 of an inch lean way between teeth on the sprockets so they are pretty easy to spot if it has jumped.

What Ive done is just replaced the tensioners come to find my noise is still there. Yes my Tensioner was pretty well bad but The chain is just stretched in a couple links because it was ran for so long by the previous owner and myself without a new one tensioner in.

So right now you can hear and feel it in the engine where those couple links on the chain basically Sling? and hit the valve cover or what have you. So As soon as i get the $ thats the next thing on my list to fix. But if your jumping on the problem ASAP you should really have a problem :)

More then welcome on the info btw! Glad to help
 
All it is, is 80 weight oil and soap.......they just use solid particulates to improve a viscosity index which isn't smart.

The detergents make it foam and oil is a fluid. In normal pressurized state between bearings the fluid isn't compressable and forms a cushion. The foaming introduces air into the oil and air is able to compress......metal on metal.

You basically loose all your lubrication properties using it. However it does quiet down noisy valvetrains because of the viscosity.
 
I agree, if you are easy on it you should be ok. I drove about two weeks on mine before I knew what was making the noise, until it just ran too rough to even idle.

What turbo Nissan do you have, 240sx or 300zx?
 
I have a turbo 200sx SE-R

0055.jpg
 
To bump this I got the Ford master cam set. However it doesn't have the 511530 cam tool but has the 611532 tool for the 4.6.. this only locks one cam at a time but it will work to hold the cam to loosen the sprocket bolt if anyone is wondering. Going to tackle this tomorrow.
 
So I ran into a snag. The intake cam bolt is supposed to be a 10mm Allen head. However due to some mistake mine has a 16 or 17mm hex head bolt. I cannot fit a socket in there at any angle and I cannot lift the cam to get to it because I don't have an impact to loosen the bolt up with the cam loose.

Is it possible to just loosen the exhaust cam sprocket to remove the tensioner?
 
I could tell with a stethascope where the noise was. There's only a few things that will go loose with startup the tensioners are used with oil pressure. If you only get rattle at startup while the engine is building pressure that would be the tensioners. They are supposed to have a check ball to lock them in place for next startup......

As an update I said :q:q:q:q it and pulled the exhaust cam up. It's not difficult and in my opinion is better since you don't have a keyway for the sprocket it is fairly easy to get misaligned a small degree not noticed by the eye. It gives a bit more room to play and there is zero issues if you take your time and keep your caps and torque specs in order.

The engine is now quiet as a mouse and almost all the tune up is complete. Tensioners, degas bottle plugs and gaskets. Turns out the coils were replaced with the updated motorcrafts about a month before I got it so everything is now kosher.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 76 (members: 0, guests: 76)
Back
Top