Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: raywilb on 06 April 2016, 11:15:49
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how long is the life of timing chains. my window cleaner has just rang me asking if I know of any cheap motors for sale. apparently his Astra car has broken down with a snapped timing chain. he cannot even change a bulb so was not aware of what had happened so kept trying to start it. but the call made me think what can I do so I'm never in that situation. if anything ? :-\
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Which engine did he have.
Timing chain life is very dependent on design and how well serviced they are
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Regular oil changes, neglecting the oil, letting it clog up and reduce the lubrication it what kills them I hear, as a tiny drip of oil lubes the chain.
I suspect your window cleaners Astra had 20k oil changes all it's life, maybe worse.
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Regular oil changes, neglecting the oil, letting it clog up and reduce the lubrication it what kills them I hear, as a tiny drip of oil lubes the chain.
I suspect your window cleaners Astra had 20k oil changes all it's life, maybe worse.
he starts it on a morning & that's it. I'm always telling him to get the gear for a service and I,d do it for him. he never has.
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Regular oil changes, neglecting the oil, letting it clog up and reduce the lubrication it what kills them I hear, as a tiny drip of oil lubes the chain.
Chains in crankcases don't need much(if any) extra fed lubrication, but a good supply of pressurised oil to the hydraulic tensioner is critical for it to work, let alone be durable. Once the tensioner stops working as designed bad things happen.
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I've commented before, so I won't go into detail, but if you are interested, look up how the Morris Minor/Austin A30 engines (BMC A series) used to do it - perfect!
Ron.
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I was talking to quite an educated person(woman) and she forgot to service her car (Land Rover discovery) for FIVE years.
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I've commented before, so I won't go into detail, but if you are interested, look up how the Morris Minor/Austin A30 engines (BMC A series) used to do it - perfect!
Ron.
A rubber coated flap is only going to be of 'use' when the chain is on an OHV engine and very short. And A/B series never have noisy timing chains do they? Better OHV engines have hydraulic tensioner; just look at any of the Rootes 4s.
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Yes Nick, I agree. After I posted that, I Googled the Minor engine and saw the silly tensioner you are referring to, but that differs from my memory of an A30 engine I had in which the Reynolds tensioner was a neoprene slipper arrangement force-lubricated via a centre hole. The pumped oil also tensioned the slipper by putting pressure on a piston that forced the slipper into firm contact with the chain.
That piston had a notched, spiral groove in it to prevent its return by more than a small amount, thus ensuring permanent contact, and as wear took place it notched around one more step.
Now, I didn't imagine all of the above, but I cannot find details anywhere on Google - am I going mad or can any Oofer confirm (NOT the madness, the description!)?
Ron.
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how long is the life of timing chains. my window cleaner has just rang me asking if I know of any cheap motors for sale. apparently his Astra car has broken down with a snapped timing chain. he cannot even change a bulb so was not aware of what had happened so kept trying to start it. but the call made me think what can I do so I'm never in that situation. if anything ? :-\
I ran saabs before moving to the mig. Their Achilles heel was oil starvation caused by problems with the breathers. That said, if correctly serviced the chains had a very long life - I'm given to understand that 200-250k was usual on the 2.3T engines. Certainly the last one I had (bought at 160k sold at about 190k) showed no signs of chain wear.
In short, change your oil regularly and listen for any rattle from the chain - particularly on a cold start. Also, a bit of googling will highlight if a particular car model has issues. For example I think some of the Jag v8's from around 1997-2000 had plastic chain tensioner/guide parts that could fail and a number have been replaced under warranty.
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Couple i used to work with both ran cars and neither realised that they, the cars that is, were fitted with a dipstick. ;D
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timing chains are pretty strong it will take a lot to destroy one but they do 'stretch' with age and wear - the links don't actually stretch but wear the causes the chain to get longer as the links get further apart, causing timing issues - cam timing gets retarded.
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Oo, that reminds me, any Saab/GM 2.8T (looking at you M'lud Opti) can suffer stretched chaos screwing the timing.
Lots of info on the insignia vxr fora about it.
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Oo, that reminds me, any Saab/GM 2.8T (looking at you M'lud Opti) can suffer stretched chaos screwing the timing.
Lots of info on the insignia vxr fora about it.
Good advice for the VX crew - I believe from UKS it wasn't an issue on the Saab after they revised the guide setup. :y
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Ah, good knowledge! I only vaguely know about the 2.8T, 2.3T is my power plant of choice, but only because of the car it gets attached to.
Once again GM taking a Saab idea and making it worse :P.
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Guys i got as well Saab 93 2.0t that one with 175hp .
i bought it with 179 000 miles and now is 189 000 and there is no sound of chain rattle at all, but Im changing oil every 5k,
I am so surprise how that engine sound, nothing like that mileage, just so healthy ( got small oil leak but I'm waiting till summer for proper cleaning and servicing the small leak )
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Guys i got as well Saab 93 2.0t that one with 175hp .
i bought it with 179 000 miles and now is 189 000 and there is no sound of chain rattle at all, but Im changing oil every 5k,
I am so surprise how that engine sound, nothing like that mileage, just so healthy ( got small oil leak but I'm waiting till summer for proper cleaning and servicing the small leak )
Oil at the back of the engine? If so, probably Oil Pressure Switch. Cheap part to buy, bit of a bugger to fit without a ramp as space is limited around the back. My local Saab specialist charged £60 for the part including fitting.