My father gave me his 1991 Nissan 240 SX SE … at the time, it had 108,000 miles. The car now has over 135,000 miles … the car still has a TON of original parts … the car was babied its entire life. The car has the original timing chain, and other things.

When have you changed your timing chain? When should it be changed? What else should I do for preventative purposes? I don’t want to be used/abused when I go to the dealership … and get tons of stuff for the car that is unwarranted.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Alex

 

Ive got 126k on the clock...my car hasnt been babied but the timing chain does rattle against the guides now. When you change a timing chain it is also customary to replace the water pump as well. Expect to pay somewhere in the range of $500 to get all of this done. Personally, I think both of our timing chains should have been replaced a while ago.

Preventative maintenance may include (but not limited to):
Oil changes
Coolant flushes
Timing belt/chain replacements
Valve adjustments etc
see FSM for more on preventative maintenance

 

I recently bought a 1989 project 240 out of the junkyard for $300. I pulled the engine and got a great surprise when I removed the timing cover. The guide was in about 100 pieces all throughout the engine and oil pan. The tensioner was trashed which caused the timing chain to rub a hole about an inch long in the the timing cover. Nasty Mess.

I took the cover a machine/welding shop in town and they took care of the problem very nicely. I repaced all the timing parts (gears, chain, guid, tensioner) and the water pump and I believe it came out to somewhere around $430.

Not reall sure when it should be replaced, but seems like 100,000 to 110000 would be a good time to take care of it pending no other problems.

 

i have also noticed that the timing chain is starting rubb against the bottom of the valve cover too!

 

the timing chain rub was known to happen on the sohc... not so much on the dohc... the guides are bad in every one of the ka24 motors...i say replace the chain as soon as it starts making racket... remove the 2 upper guides and put on a new timing set.... i also suggest that the timing chain tensioners be looked at real close... nuttin like spending all kinds of money on the motor and then having a tensioner go bad and it all goes down the drain...

 

Here's a question I have been wondering, how loud is loud enough to know when it's time to change chains? Do I have to change th chain or can i just rip out the guides? and does anyone know how much a new chain costs and where i can get it?

 

If your gonna replace anything, I would just go ahead and replace it all. It comes in a timing kit, and if you want close to oem you can just go to somewhere like autozone and get the whole kit for like around $100. It includes both gears, tensioner, guide, chain, guide, and gaskets. Actually I dont know if you can even buy seperate pieces. I dont know about higher performance kits or if there even made. One of the nissan motorheads could probably help ya out.

As for the question about the sound. I'm not real sure bacause when I got this car out of the junkyard it was too late.

 

you can get the parts & some knowledge here:

http://www.courtesyparts.com/S13_DOHC-TBKIT.html

 

wtf howcome the slack side of the timing chain bushing is so freaking expensive for DOHC but so cheap for SOHC?

 

well the dohc has a lil more moving parts, no matter though, spend the money on the peice if u need it, its better then replacing a blown motor like me

i was going to replace my chain guide the day befor it blew. i belive it skipped a tooth and spun a bering

so mad cause the swap only lasted 2 weeks.

 

the timing chain guides are the same for both sohc and dohc... the lower tensioners are the same as well... do yourself a favor and get the tensioner as well... that 60 bucks is well worth it when you look at what a new motor will cost ya... (sounds like i have experience with this part going bad)