Best place to get chain kit from?

alb9694

Hi all,

Car's getting to near 100,000 miles now, decided would be a nice milestone to change the chain. Ive had it since 68,000 and its now started to rattle/tap a little on startup (don't know if this is lifters or the chain but still decided to change the chain anyway).

Where's the best place to get a chain from? I've seen this one on ebay for £88 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Timing-Chain-Kit-12577385-Vectra-Astra-Z22SE_W0QQitemZ180420445194QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item2a01e5840a, but don't know if it's a bad idea to use non oem kits, any thoughts?

Also, is there anything else worth changing whilst doing the cam chain kit? Like water pump, oil pump or anything else for maintenance purposes? As 100k is quite a lot of miles and I want to prolong the life of the engine I would be willing to spend a bit more for preventative maintenance.

guzgog

Hi andrew i recently purchased the chain kits from the dealers that you mentioned and stamped on the boxes was Geniune GM parts they looked quality items although most Gm parts are now mostly made in Spain also if you buy both chains they only charge once for postage cheers Stan

Huskyman

Give http://www.autovaux.co.uk at try, genuine GM and around the same price as the ebay stuff

vocky

I would recommend replacing both chain kits, 100k was the designed lifetime for the chains.

I would certainly consider replacing the water pump, most of them seem to start leaking around 50k anyway

An engine oil change would also be a good idea and perhaps a set of GM triple electrode plugs

alb9694

vocky said:
I would recommend replacing both chain kits, 100k was the designed lifetime for the chains.

I would certainly consider replacing the water pump, most of them seem to start leaking around 50k anyway

An engine oil change would also be a good idea and perhaps a set of GM triple electrode plugs

Thanks vocky,

I forgot to say, I know that my camchain has been changed at some point during the lifetime of the car, when I took it to Benny he told me it had had a whole new top end (i think the previous owner had a chain snap). Although I dont know if it was done at 40,000 or at 67,000 just before I bought it. As for the balancer, (and whether the cam chain had the new oil nozzle fitted) that's anyone's guess.

I put a new set of triple electrodes on every year when I do the service, same with the oil change. With regards to oil, is it advisable to use a different grade of oil as the engine gets older? I still use 5W30 and it seems to get through a fair bit of it.

Any idea how much a water pump is roughly? Also is it worth doing the oil pump?

Out of interest, how do you know that 100K is the designed lifetime of the chain?

rushy

Re the 100k, its in my service book for the Vec C Z22SE, GM 10w40 is still a good oil, a bit thicker so you should use less and at £12 for 5L at Autovaux its a no brain-er for me even if I change my oil at 6k. It also has help silence a sticky lifter I have.