Somehow no valvetrain damage. I bought a new tensioner in preperation of the fact mine took a dump based on everyones previous issues with the tensioner. When taking my tensioner off it still looked and felt pretty good though.

The chain guide on the front (intake side) saw better days as it looked like the chain slapped it and broke off the top part. Somehow this got stuck in a groove on the cover and didnt fall into the pan. Gotta call the dealer to figure out if i need to order the entire kit to get new guides as it looks like they all come in the kit. I'd rather not pay $510.10 for it but i would rather have my car back up today more.

My only concern is why it jumped timing now. The tensioner was tight on the chain and looked good, nor did it fall apart like some peoples when theirs failed. I am replacing it regardless though.

The only thing aside from the broken guide (which happened due to the chain jumping, not the cause of the chain jumping) that looked out of place is the oil nozzle was slowly dripping oil. I've never been entirely certain of what the oil nozzle does in the first place so maybe that's normal.

Still when i put it back together i dont want to run into the same problem.

All in all the timing chain is a joke to do on the car. Took less than 2 hours to tear everything down and that's with my 5/8 socket that fell into the frame when removing the belt tensioner bolt...... took forever to get that m*therfawker out.

 

I'm not sure about the LNF it should be the same. CED makes a replacement kit comes with guides chain tensioner for $230 something

 

I have the entire timing kit for sale..

 

Yeah, both are valid options if i didnt want to be out whooping a nitrous t/a's ass this weekend.

 

on the race engines gm made the oil spray hole that lubes the chains bigger if you look at the hole it isent very big and that could be the reason why the chain is wearing out and getting excessive slap in it

 

Who installed the cams? Timing may not have been set right to begin with.

 

Hey man, I would revisit your theory about this. I have plenty of experience with this issue. What was happening to me was the CAM Actuators werent parking right when the engine was off(probably cause of my supertechs), this in turn caused slack to build in between the cam gears, which in turn caused the chain to slap the guide on startup, whicn caused the guide to finally snap at which point after all of this, the timing would jump.

Nothing wrong with the tensioner. Its the stiffer valve springs. I think with time they cause the CAM actuators to start to fail. You might also look into the CAM Actuator phaser solenoids on the head as these may be going bad and thus not parking the actuators properly in the first place.

I would fix the guide and replace the tensioner and be ok for a month or two before timing jumped again and guide broke again. It wasnt until I finally replaced the CAM actuators with brand new ones and new cam actuator phaser solenoids that my issue went away, but by then, my head was F****D from all the timing jumps and hard starts...had to get a new head. Been okay for almost 5mo now with new stock head.

Just my ideas, observations and stuff for you to look into....

 

Pretty sure the tcs came with the upgraded tensioner stock

 

You know, this is actually a pretty valid response based on what i saw last night. The chain was tight and would be tight everywhere around the motor, however when turning it i would see slack at random times between the cam gears.

I associated it with the fact that timing chains are normally longer on one side vs the other and that it was just coming around to the part of chain that had slack in it. I'll certainly look into it. Do you have a part number for the CAM actuators/ solenoid per chance? I am at lunch and driving to the dealership after i eat to pick stuff up. If not ill try and find it on my phone.


As for whoever said the cams were installed incorrectly, i could see that except the fact that i had already inspected the cam install afterwards to double check torque on the bolts after i put a few hundred miles on it.

 

I believe this is what happened to Forty's car as well with the stiffer valvesprings.

 

Help me out cubaniche! U live close by and I need my tensioner replaced!!,

 

wut valvesprings r u running? the 78's or 94's?

 

82# zzp.

 

No problem man. If I can help save someone the headache of all the crap I went through then Ive done something good

Here are the part numbers:
Ecotec Timing Gear Adjuster INT 12578515 (this is the intake side CAM actuator)

Ecotec Timing Gear Adjuster EXH 12621505(this is the exhaust side CAM actuator)

These are the solenoids on the head(they are revised new PNs):
12646783
12646784

Im not sure if CED had the solenoids but they did have the actuators. GMPD has all four at lower price but then shipping is more, you know how that goes. Its up to you to decide how you want to handle that.

Correct Term! Im part of the reason why he decided to rip her apart before things got to where mine did LOL He and I spent a lot of time on the phone talking about the cascading failure.

 

Lets not thread jack Fords topic. PM me or hit me up on GMoH, it's back up.

 

Gracias. I should have just ordered the entire kit at this rate. Now ive already bought a few pieces. Blah.

Ill probably just put the car back together and wait on the shipment of the actuators to get here. If it fails... Well i was building a new engine in the next month anyways lol.

 

I just wanna say, I feel your pain on dropping the socket into the frame. Omg, so frustrating.

 

I refused to let that damn thing rattle around in there either.

 

I did the same on my Balt. Could not get to it so I just drove around for a while and it eventually fell out somewhere on the road LOL.

 

Yeah in that case...NO WORRIES LOL
Sweet man! Good luck with the build

Ive done it twice. Both times I was able to wiggle my tool magnet in there to get the socket back LOL

Ill tell you what tool has been invaluable to me in a lot of my major modding though..an 18mm stubby ratcheting wrench

 

LOL. I fished my telescoping magnet in there until I got it out. Was not about to let that bastard rattle in there and dive me nuts. Haha

 

Magnet did not work so after about 10 minutes I said F it and just hit a few good speed bumps and it fell out at some point.

 

Some say the ground is the best dropped tool catcher. However, I belive the best dropped tool catcher is someone elses windshield after you decide you "lost" it

 

Since we brought up valve springs. What would you guys recommend so this would not happen. I'm looking to do a motor build in the future along with cams and valves. I've always wondered what valve springs are necessary.

 

Well new tensioner guides and chain are in. Not sure any were my issue though, even the actuators are good. The only thing I can see is that the exhaust cam likes to over rotate when I'm turning it by hand. Thus causing some slack between the cam gears.

I'm hopeful that when the tensioner sees some oil pressure it will put enough pressure to keep the exhaust cam from trying to over rotate. As stated earlier the spring pressure could be a culprit.

I cleaned, sanded, and painted my valve cover last night so as soon as it dries ill try and start it up.