Timing chain(?) rattle

[Jonnyblaze]

Hey guys, just finished my 5 speed swap and when I started the car I heard a terrible rattling from (seemingly) the front of the motor. Now, I've had this problem before and it wasn't as loud. The last time around I removed both timing chain guides and that fixed the problem. I pulled of the valve cover and chain cover and it looks like the right side of the upper chain is a little slack. The top and the left is fairly taught though.

KA24de, not terribly high in mileage. What I don't get is how it started making this noise over night. The only thing I did was swap the auto out. Thanks for the help.

[Jonnyblaze]

Damn, just checked the lower chain and it looks like theres a ton of slack on the upper right sight just above the tensioner... Is that normal?

[JRas]

usually it's just the chain rubbing on the guides

remove the upper guides

[Jonnyblaze]

Like I said, I did that about a year ago.

[Tom25666]

one of my pulleys had fucked bearings once and the "expert" thought it was the timing chain. i figured it out by accident

[Jonnyblaze]

Hmm, we did mess with a few of the pulleys during the five speed swap. I'll check that out, thanks. Any other suggestions?

[KrazyS13]

Sometimes the tensioners can get stuck, caused by gunk buildup from dirty oil. You could try to clean the upper tensioner, you can do it on but I'd pull it off to do it(to get a better clean). When I pulled mine off it was stuck!!

How many miles does your motor have? If your motor has higher mileage it will need a timing kit eventually.

[Jonnyblaze]

Yeah, I actually pulled it off and cleaned it twice today. And the motor has 160k on it but it was an auto daily driven by a middle aged woman for most of it's life. The motor is pretty strong and pulls harder than most KA's I've seen.

[KrazyS13]

That motor will still need a timing chain kit regardless of who was driving it. At that high of mileage, your tensioners are for sure out of spec and weak. It might not be your existing problem, but it will turn into one if neglected. Hell, I just did mine at 144K and it needed it bad!! lol

Get you a mechanics stethoscope if you can track it down. They're pretty cheap at Sears and work wonders!!

[Jonnyblaze]

I guess you're right but if it was the chain why would it occur overnight? One day it's perfectly fine, then I do the five speed swap, start it up and it's rattling like ass.

[89_240jdm]

i Had the same problem i install my new motor and clutch and started to rattling noise ,,,,, but the oil light turn on and off ,,,,i turn it off and change the oil pump and the noise went away....and also i change the timing chain guides because one was stock,,,,,,,

before i but the motor i turn it on and i dint make the rattling noise it was fine ......

[sydewayz]

im actually having this problem as well, did you find any solutions?