Clatter & Smoke: Timing Chain?

[aircap]

Anybody?

[Mike D]

The tensioner can be one of two styles. Both of them unbolt and slide out. Going back in can be a little tricky fighting the pressure since you are supposed to pre-load them.

Get your diagnosis done first. What amount of chain stretch do you have?

If the guides are trashed then you remove the slide pins and replace them. I believe the top guide also has a bolt.

To get to the bottom guide's slide pin you should pull the radiator, A/C condensor, harmonic balancer, water pump pulley, and possibly the A/C bracket. I don't remember for sure on the A/C bracket. It can be done without pulling the radiator but it makes it SOOOO much easier seeing what you're doing.

[Arthur Dalton]

>>et your diagnosis done first. What amount of chain stretch do you have?>>

Ditto !
Pull the cover and look. That will answer many of your questions..
Like , maybe the chain has been renewed [ you will know that looking b/c there will be a link clip]..and then you can measure chain stretch and test tensioner bleed.... along with ball adjuster size [ which should be 17mm].
You are asking tech questions before the fact. Not that we mind answering , but it sure makes more sense for you go pop the cover and see what's up.

[aircap]

Yeah, sorry to get the cart before the horse. I guess I just like to really visualize the possibilities beforehand to help me kind of get a grip on what I might be dealing with. Thanks sincerely for all your help! Hope I haven't been a pain...I appreciate everybody's patience.

So now I've pulled the valve cover and the chain actually looks great, it's tight, and it has essentially zero "stretch" according to the marks on the cam pulley and the balancer down below. It shows it to be at maybe two degrees after zero. So that's most likely not the issue, eh?

I started checking out the valve clearance and discovered that I don't have a thin enough feeler blade...the lowest I have is a .008, which is pretty much perfect for the exhaust valves, but twice as thick as needed for the intakes.

By the way, the clearance on every exhaust valve is excessive (like .012ish), and I've adjusted the center two, using a box-end 17mm wrench. I'm going tonight to pick up a crowsfoot or some such tool to do the others, which are, as I'm sure you know, essentially inaccessible with normal wrenches.

I have to admit it took me a little bit to figure out how the hell to adjust the valves...the only similar job I've done in the past was on air-cooled VWs, and that type utilizes a locknut with a slotted adjuster. You loosen the locknut and turn the adjuster with a screwdriver in that setup. So you can imagine that I was a bit disoriented at first. The archives helped me finally get my head around it.

On a side note, I've noticed in some other threads that some guys here claim that synthetic oil, or just any quality oil of the right viscosity, may make a difference when it comes to strange noises. Anybody care to comment on that, just for grins?

Thanks again, everybody.

[aircap]

So I adjusted all the valves, changed the oil and fiddled a little with the timing. The engine no longer makes the scary clackety sound, and the smoke out the tailpipe has diminished almost completely. (Just a puff when I first fire up the engine sometimes.)

It's getting better all the time.

Thanks again to everyone who posted in this thread. I appreciate all the advice more than I can say. I'll soon be posting a new thread or two regarding some other issues...but in the meantime, thanks, thanks, thanks.

[barry123400]

The puff of smoke is nothing other than the valve guide seals are getting a little long in the tooth probably. If you wish to verify this just have someone drive behind you.
When you suddenly come of the gas they should see a puff of smoke. You only have to change them when they get bad enough to bother you basically or oil consumption is getting heavy. Not a bad do it yourself proposition either when and if the time comes. Best of all the seals are very cheap.

[coadman]

Originally Posted by aircap

So I adjusted all the valves, changed the oil and fiddled a little with the timing. The engine no longer makes the scary clackety sound, and the smoke out the tailpipe has diminished almost completely. (Just a puff when I first fire up the engine sometimes.)

It's getting better all the time.

Thanks again to everyone who posted in this thread. I appreciate all the advice more than I can say. I'll soon be posting a new thread or two regarding some other issues...but in the meantime, thanks, thanks, thanks.

I live southwest of you about 50 miles, and I was in Wichita Monday afternoon to look at a 240D a person had advertised for sale on Sunday. I procrastinated too long, and he sold it Sunday night, and forgot to call me to tell me not to come to Wichita.So I had a nice trip up and back, with nothing gained!(LOL)
Jim