Weird sound from valve cover??? KA

[V8slayr]

Both my brother's KA 240 (190,000 mi) and an Altima (KA w/ 165,000 mi) that my other brother is looking to buy sound like they have marbles rolling around in the head. I haven't pulled valve cover personally to investigate but my uncle, a mechanic, has and found nothing obvious. Has anyone else heard this and if so what have you found as the source. Thanks

[99maxgtr]

timing chain rattle? it's pretty notorious with ka's

[BustedS13]

valve tick
timing chain rattle
welcome to it's a 240sx

[ruudbwoy]

timing chain guides usually break and make that noise.

[nu_born]

yep...it doesn't necessarily have to break any guides in order for that noise to occur though...depending on mileage the chain might be slack enough to smack the upper timing chain guide and cause the condition you're talking about.

you can try taking the valve cover off and zipping the two twelves out of it and removing it, i did it on my ka when i had it and it won't hurt anything by not having it there.

[snuze671]

this should be of help..

HOW-TO: Fix Your Timing Chain Rattle: Nissan Articles: Nissan Forums / Infiniti Forums - NICOclub (http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=105618)

[Tantwoforty]

valve tick
timing chain rattle
welcome to it's a 240sx
:snoop:
yuuup.

[jeb1517]

Yea I had the timing chain rattle problem but it was obvious in my case. The rattle was only there during idle. If I revved it even a little bit the noise would go away. The chain tightens up and stops hitting the guide. That could be a quick test for you maybe?

[murda-c]

make sure the oil isn't low. that'll make things a lot noisier.