Valvetrane Noise!!!

[Kinzer SR13gtR]

Alright.... I picked up a 91 240sx.
had it a month. And drove to Albany NY!!
and back..... to Orlando that is.
The car is now making a wonderful noise from what sounds like, the valve cover! I pull it off... and this T-bracket, that sits over the top of the timing chains between the CAM gears, literally snapped ahead of its mounting bolts. Its a stock KA24.
So it is sitting in place, but rattling, and jumping off of the chain/gears as the engine is running.

My question to all of you is: "Have any of you seen this happen, do you know
if it is safe to run the engine without it! And is this a part I can get replaced at my local dealer, or elsewhere!!


http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa295/KINZERS13GTR/0720071532.jpghttp://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa295/KINZERS13GTR/0720071533a.jpghttp://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa295/KINZERS13GTR/0720071533.jpg

[20 til 3]

i'm actually curious to know the answer to this too. Mine broke off in the exact same way, I've been rolling around without that bracket for a few months now and no problems, but still.... it's a nissan.

[Kinzer SR13gtR]

Tell me about it...
I have a friend that tried to kill his 2.0 91 sentra, had it running on 3 cylinders, and then drove it into a river.
To his dismay, he got a call from the town! They pulled it out... he forgot to remove/scrape the tags... they pumped the water out.
A few spurts, And then he literally drove it home!! LOL!!
Crazy.....

It doesnt look detrimental, but it is what it is!
Nissan put it there for a reason! Maybe it was just some fanatical engineering, on their part! But I still have to be sure!

[pretending2bepro]

i work at autozone in cali and i know for a fact your not really going to be able to find it at and parts dealers... nissan dealership maybe but if you ask me i wouldn't do that. your best bet is to go to your local junk yard and pull one off another ka24 de... i know in cali its damn near impossible to come across 240's in junk yards but if you find just about any later model nissan truck with dohc you should be set and on your way. hell i think the altima might even use the same set up on its engine... just transverse, no matter to you though.

[Sir]

pull the rest out.
Enjoy.

This has been covered many times and most owners know to remove it.

[DriftSpecS14]

just leave it out u dont need it

[ThatGuy]

Welcome to owning a 240sx.

Step #1. Buy car.
Step #2. Remove upper timing chain guard, since it always breaks. Replace the other guides if the engine is over 150K.
Step #3. Crash car trying to drift.

Repeat as many times as necessary.

[kandyflip445]

LOL.

Pretty much what everyone else said. That thing that broke off on your car is removed when you do a timing chain service anyways. It does nothing but break and make rattles.

Good pics though, maybe it will help out when other people search for valvetrain noise, valve noise, rattle, timing chain rattle, etc.

(just trying to add some words for searches)

[mrmephistopheles]

Dear sweet parapalegic jesus.

It was common knowledge back in the last century that the upper timing chain guide wasn't necessary and was indeed prone to breaking. It was further known that Nissan realized how unnecessary the part was and removed it from the parts system.

Searching reveals these mysteries to the hardworking newbie.

[ecuastyle84]

welcome to my world lol...i had the same issue with my ka:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/ecuastyle84/100_2320.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/ecuastyle84/100_2322.jpg
the solution:
swapped a sr20 which by the way im having a slight issue with and if anyone would give any suggestions to help i appreciate it...thanks
http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=151008

[sicarius82]

Welcome to owning a 240sx.

Step #1. Buy car.
Step #2. Remove upper timing chain guard, since it always breaks. Replace the other guides if the engine is over 150K.
Step #3. Crash car trying to drift.

Repeat as many times as necessary.

:rofl: true...o so very true...

[NemeGuero]

Welcome to owning a 240sx.

Step #1. Buy car.
Step #2. Remove upper timing chain guard, since it always breaks. Replace the other guides if the engine is over 150K.
Step #3. Crash car trying to drift.

Repeat as many times as necessary.

or take hella hard park pics. ;)

[LA_phantom_240]

Dear sweet parapalegic jesus.

It was common knowledge back in the last century that the upper timing chain guide wasn't necessary and was indeed prone to breaking. It was further known that Nissan realized how unnecessary the part was and removed it from the parts system.

Searching reveals these mysteries to the hardworking newbie.

Indeed.

Like he said, that is part of the timing chain guide system that Nissan looked back on and said to themselves, "Oops... that was dumb.." and thus stopped putting it on their motors, as well as those wonderful secondary butterflies in the intake runners.

But this thread is good because I just got my vert, and have yet to remove that guide before it ruins my third 240.

[240tek]

Sounds funny, but why the hell did Nissan Engineers put that guide in to begin with. Probably figure the first owner would nag about a little chain slapping then they decided not to offer the part, and to even recommend not install another one!! Great engineering Nissan!

[scarecrow27]

Welcome to owning a 240sx.

Step #1. Buy car.
Step #2. Remove upper timing chain guard, since it always breaks. Replace the other guides if the engine is over 150K.
Step #3. Crash car trying to drift.

Repeat as many times as necessary.


ahahahaha how true

[NemeGuero]

Sounds funny, but why the hell did Nissan Engineers put that guide in to begin with. Probably figure the first owner would nag about a little chain slapping then they decided not to offer the part, and to even recommend not install another one!! Great engineering Nissan!

shit always works different in theory man.

you think you could do better?

[SexPanda]

shit always works different in theory man.

you think you could do better?

they could have done better on the SOHC timing chain guide... IMHO that is...
But yeah I agree everything does work different in theory. Just think of the Rotary engine.

[240tek]

shit always works different in theory man.

you think you could do better?


These motors are supposed to be Life Tested vigorously prior to introduction to the market. Think Highly Accelerated Life Testing, granted the KA is known as the Million Mile Motor the engineers probably didn't test the timing components thoroughly.

Could I do better? Depends if I was granted the same number of engineers, time, and funding Nissan was given. It's kinda an understatement now, with the superior VVT and technology Nissan has been implemented 12 years later.

[LFOabuse]

^^^
"granted the KA is known as the Million Mile Motor"

I would love to see one actually hit that mark. lol.

[mrmephistopheles]

I've seen a few over 300k miles.

[kandyflip445]

Over 200k on mine! Clutch finally gave out.