I just bought my 92 hatch. The other night I was seafoaming the intake. After the car was good and warmed up, I noticed a tapping noise from the front of the valve cover. I have been searching around and found that it is either the lifters(?) or the timing chaine. This is (was) a one owner car with all the maitince(sp) records, and no mention of the timing chaine bieng done. The car has 120,000 on the motor and it is bone stock. From what I found the timing chaine goes somewhere north of 90,000.

My question is two fold, how do I tell if it is the lifters or the tming chaine? If it is the timing chaine, do I need to replace the entire assamble (lower/ upper, gears, guides, tensioner. and chaine)? If it is the lifters, how involved is that.

I have searched around and couldn't find any mention of what all needs to be replaced, I figure if I'm in there I might as well change it all. I just want a little clarification.

Sorry for the long post.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

If its all thet way up front then it is most likely the timing chain guide or tensioner 9not the chain itself). It is most likely that.

 

you get the chain and the tensioner and replace it, and my guess is that if you have to ask how involved it is you should take it to someone else. No offense, I am just guessing that if you havent gotten into the repair side of a 240 enough to know what it involves, its not the best thing for you to try and gain a notch on your belt with, if ya know what I mean.
If you are local I can show you how to do it.

 

I'm in the middle of replacing the timing chain on a KADE that is on an engine stand. I couldn't imagine doing this to an engine that's in a car.

You can get timing sets that include new upper and lower chain, and new cam and crank sprockets. I found one on eBay that had all those plus tensioners and guides.

 

Iroc07, I have a friend who is a professional mechanic (though he works for saturn). I wouldn't dare try this on my own. He would have to help me. No offense taken. I'm smart enough to know my own limits.

Thanks devnull and 95_240SXSE.

I just kind of wanted to get an idea if I was on the right track.

The motor looses power the high up in rpm you go. by the time you get to about 5.5k there is almost no acceleration. and it ideals rough as hell.

I have cleaned the throttle body, and replaced the plugs and wires. The air filter is fairly clean and the oil looks ok.

Now my starter is trying to crap out on me. I was cleaning the connectors on the silinode last night. I don't know if it helped or not because the car ate one of the nuts. The car is really slow starting and last night it wasn't wanting to start at all, after a couple of tries of the key it finally started. I am starting to wonder about this thing. At least it isn't a daily driver.

end of rant.

 

There is a saftey cover over the top chain. If your chain loosens or gets any slack in it, the chain will rub the cover. If you pull your vavle cover off you should be able to see this peice pull it out and throw it in the garbage. It too can make this noise but it is there to tell you to change the chain and guides. I personally keep up regular maintenace(spelling?) and know when to change my chain. If you do this just be aware that you do need to change your chain and remember to do it when need be.

 

I just bought the car. I have most if not all of the previous owners maitenence(sp) records (one owner car). And there are no records for timing chain being done, and it has 120,+++ miles on it. I think it might be time for a new one. I guess the suspension will have to wait.