Loose chain

whenyouaintgotnobills

So yeah, bought an Astra Z22SE a month ago with the timing chain being replaced by the previous owner 20k km (_12k miles) ago.
Out of curiosity I opened the cam cover to find that the new chain has slack in it (the chain is new, judging from the colored links and the fresh look of the camshaft and the guide).
It does sorta rattle (not really noisy) while the engine is cold, after it warms up the rattle disappears.

So what is to blame for the slack, incorrect/bad tensioner, jumped chain? And can I just buy a new tensioner and insert it in or do I have to do the whole timing chain? And whether can I use the old chain or buy a new one?

IDI_AMIN

It looks stretched the chain
To be safe I would put a new chain set on

Wether its down to the tensioner or a cheap chain set Is hard t tell.

Basically the choice is yours to go for just a tensioner or a full set

I think most would recommend a full chain set

ZippyZafira

Bet its from an old style tensioner... Seen it many times.

Most cars i work on now that are dead and were dead and rebuilt less than 12 mths ago. Who ever carried out the work used inferior parts, Once the correct gear has been used its happy sailing

whenyouaintgotnobills

Qurious though, I think that a new style tensioner was installed, based on what I see from the back of the engine - the tensioner is not flat (although I might be wrong, idk)

BTW, can a loose chain be the cause of rough gear changes? Its like the the car wobbles badlyvwhen changing gears, really have to work the clutch and gas pedal to shift smoothly or maybe a engine mount is dead?

Thank you for your answers 😉

KevinH

That is indeed the latest style tensioner (from the Z20NET engine), which are found in the latest spec kits.

Are you able to tell if it was 'activated' correctly when installed ?

patricks

KevinH said:
That is indeed the latest style tensioner (from the Z20NET engine), which are found in the latest spec kits.

Are you able to tell if it was 'activated' correctly when installed ?

If you look down into the head just underneath the exhaust cam sprocket u can see if the tensioner is in the activated state or not as it sticks out further

patricks

ZippyZafira said:
Bet its from an old style tensioner... Seen it many times.

Most cars i work on now that are dead and were dead and rebuilt less than 12 mths ago. Who ever carried out the work used inferior parts, Once the correct gear has been used its happy sailing

Its more from incorrect maintenance - the old style tensioner, albeilt the improved version, lasted 300,000km in my car before i started to hear funny noises

vocky

I would check that the tensioner is activated, certainly looks like it's not !

whenyouaintgotnobills

How do I check it? Just undo the bolt and take it out or do I have to remote the cam cover again to see if the tensioner is pushing (if it can be seen)?

patricks

whenyouaintgotnobills said:
How do I check it? Just undo the bolt and take it out or do I have to remote the cam cover again to see if the tensioner is pushing (if it can be seen)?

When i did mine i took cam cover off and cable tied the sprockets to the chain and to each other to make 100% sure the chain wasnt going to jump - u can definately see which state tensioner is in just by looking. The top pic is the activated state it sticks out further into the head and u can actually see the piston extended further into the head.

That said, I think u can just remove tensioner and check it, though im not sure if the chain will move if u do it like that. I did it as above more because i'm usually very cautious in what i do and like every "t" crossed and every "i" dotted.......

vocky

seeing as the chains are under no tension in the above picture the tensioner should come out okay.