|
Well, if the chain is intact, and the tensioner is working somewhat, and the engine is turned clockwise (only!), and the guides are in place (even with the ends broken off) there should be no position where the chain is slack.
If the guides are broken, the chain may not be under complete tension when the engine is revved up/down and the cams will not be in time with the crankshaft and pistons. The relationship has to be very exact (and the crank turns twice for every turn of the cam). I think I read somewhere that guides also prevent harmonics in the chain (no doubt you've seen long belts do this - vibrate at certain RPM's). So, you might expect anything from rough running and various bad noises (possibly the chain hitting side to side in the engine, don't know what that would sound like) to valves tapping pistons (don't want to find out what that sounds like either, really) depending on how loose it is. I can definitely say that from what I saw, the chain will be loose at some loads/rpms without the entire length of the guides in place. If the tensioner is bad (it probably is), it will be loose with or without broken guides.
I'm not sure that I have enough experience to tell the difference between a bearing knock and other equally disturbing noises. Worse, I know that aluminum engines tend to soak up noise more than case iron engines do. So, it might be hard to locate the exact source of a noise like that.
|