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cam chain rattle


bonjo
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My petrol 4.2 has always made a little rattle (not a start up but continuous till the engine is warm) from cold sine new.

Once warm, it totally disappears. Mr T said it was normal while the car was in warranty.

During the last service, I asked the question again (13years later that is!) the mechanic said it is most probably the cam chain. The engine doesn't have a spring loaded tensioner so it is probably a little slack hen cold & nothing to be concerened about.

So is this correct? In my simple mind, I always saw a tensioner to be spring loaded (manybe this is so for cambelts!?)

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The timing chain has a slipper type tensioner on one side and a damper on the other side. These items wear over time and it's not unusual to get some chain rattle. it's quite common to get some tappet noise when cold on this engine. Unless there's been a very noticeable change in noise, I wouldn't be concerned. It's a common occurrence and this engine can go on to cover mega miles. Important thing on engines with chains, variable valve timing gear etc is scheduled oil and filter changes using good quality oil and filters.

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My 04 petrol 4.2 used to be the same , still one of the best cars I have had so I wouldn’t worry too much about that to be honest.

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bonjo... you have a chain!  You lucky man... I would swap you my cambelt any day of the week and revel in a bit of timing chain slap 🙂

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thanks guys.

the rattle goes away after a couple of minutes and hasn't changed since new and I will worry no more about it😀.

yes daveh sounds like it is a chain. TBH I was surprised specially I queried why ther is no cambelt change in the maintenance scheduel!

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On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 6:54 PM, daveh_rav4 said:

bonjo... you have a chain!  You lucky man... I would swap you my cambelt any day of the week and revel in a bit of timing chain slap 🙂

In this car, we had a Nissan almera with the cursed 1500 petrol engine, that eat three timing chains in 150000 miles, very common for the chains to do less than 30k. Literally the same chain in the 1.8 and that did not give problems. Got the time to change it down to 6 hrs 👍

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The Almera issue wasn’t a chain problem as such. Slight stretching of the chain, as can be expected, resulted in the crankshaft position sensor being out of alignment with the camshaft sensor - insufficient margin for chain stretch had been allowed in the design. This resulted in a fault condition and £500+ to replace the chain!

There are some horror stories with chains - a well known chain issue on BMW’s resulted in a wrecked engine - BMW washed their hands of any claims outside of the warranty period.

However, in general, with the correct routine maintenance - a chain drive should last the life of an engine.

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Nope, whatever the chain stretch was it wasn't slight. Don't forget the same chain and tensioner system was fitted to the 1800 and that never gave issue. I feel, (having changed 3) that there was a fundamental lube issue regarding the chain that did not affect the 1800. Could be a simple as a small casting line affecting oil flow.

I have seen enough timing chains, these when they came off were like worn out motorcycle chains. My dad has neck chains with tighter links. 500 quid to replace the chain would be a one man band just changing the chain not the sprockets, tensioner, Nissan wanted 1500-2k. 

Im glad this D4-D engine has a far better reputation, one of the reasons I bought it.

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motorcycle chains do strech, so does bicycle's. I don't see why the car would be different except that the loads are different and chains can be made a lot stronger.

Perhaps the latter makes them last for long long time.

But is there a maintenance schedule for the chain on the toyota? Other that schedule oil change & using high quality oil so as not to compromise its lubrication?

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17 minutes ago, bonjo said:

motorcycle chains do strech, so does bicycle's. I don't see why the car would be different except that the loads are different and chains can be made a lot stronger.

Perhaps the latter makes them last for long long time.

But is there a maintenance schedule for the chain on the toyota? Other that schedule oil change & using high quality oil so as not to compromise its lubrication?

There is no maintenance regarding the chain. If oil and filters are changed in regular intervals, it should last as long as the car.

Even in the service manual, there is no mention of servicing, or inspecting the chain at x mileages.

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As stated there is no maintenance on a chain, however the biggest single problem is poor servicing/too long between oil changes and incorrect oil being used, grade and quality are very important

 

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great ; the last question mark now crossed off my list☺️

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Chains are not perfect... but if I had a choice between a chain or a cambelt the chain would take it every time for me. 

Back in the day... most older cars had chains, steel cam gear wheels or fiber gear wheels.  I can't remeber there being any real problems with chains and gear wheels apart from a slight chain clatter on some engines... and you only changed them if you had the engine apart for other things.  Some engines (I can't remember which ones now) had an adjustment on the side of the chain cover where you slacked off a lock nut and could screw in the adjuster to tighten a spring loaded rubber pad to adjust.  The first cambelt I ever ran across was on Vauxhall Victor's overhead camshaft engine (1600cc and or 2000cc), the belt and camshaft wheel was totally exposed on the early ones and instant death by stragulation if you got a sleeve or you hair caught in it (when I had hair and long hair was in vogue for guys).  I think the only advantage was for the manufactuer... it was cheaper to make than a chain and cover.

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