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[omega18]

Chains are fine for pushrod lumps, never hear of a chain let go on any 4 cyl.

Mind you I changed the cam chain on my 250 after 20,000 miles

The only 4 Cyl's I know that have snapped their chain is the Vauxhall 2.2 lump fitted in the vectra, but that was due to a incorrect oil nozzel I believe.

[Martin_1962]

It's funny how some car manufacturers seem to alternate between belts and chains with every generation of new engine. They both have their pros and cons and I think the recent resurgence of chain driven engines has been engineered to shift the first few expensive major service items out of the first few years / 100,000 miles of ownership and therefore out of the view of the fleet manager.

Whilst a cam belted engine will die quicker than one with chains, given total neglect, changing a belt is not too bad a job and if you stay on top of it you will have no trouble. Changing chains is a total pain in the backside and, if you're going to be vigilant, they don't last that much longer in comparison to the pain involved in changing them.

The chain runs on cam-in-block engines like V8s and pushrod 4's are much shorter, so it makes me wonder if that's why they are generally trouble-free on that style of engine.

On balance, give me a belt any time.

Kevin

I never knock good push rod engines!

The cam and crank were about 5 inches apart on the Hillman/Chrysler/Talbot 1250/1300/1500/1600

[Martin_1962]

Chains are fine for pushrod lumps, never hear of a chain let go on any 4 cyl.

Mind you I changed the cam chain on my 250 after 20,000 miles

Realy, I have seen many, even on pushrods (i.e. like the rover V8) and particularly tensioner failure....which on the older lumps usualy wore a hole in the timing case and dumped the oil every where.

Oh well most of my experience with high mileage push rod engines has been with the Avenger & Sunbeam engine - never heard of one letting go  and they could take the miles very well.

[Markjay]

I had the chain changed on a mid-seventies Peguet 404, and on an early eighties Alfa Romeo.

The 404 chain became noisy, and to replace it the front timing cover had to come off.

On the Alfa DOHC engine, the chain was replaced as pre-emptive measure, and the replacement procedure did not involve removal of the timing cover - instead it involved removing the camcover to expose the cam sprockets and the top of the chain, then rotating the engine till the link in the chain was accessible, open the link, loosen the chain, connect new chain to old chain and pull it through... then refit properly and tension, recheck timing and secure camcover. The chain on the Alfa was also a double-row chain making total failure (of the chain - not the tensioner...)  less likely.

Both jobs were neither difficult or particularly time consuming.

But the belt on the 1.8 Mk1 Astra was really a doodle, it would simply slide-off and the new one slide back on with no timing issues...

On balance I think that belt driven engines are cheaper to produce, and yes they may also be quieter, but chains are in my opinion better because they are more likely to give some early sign of trouble i.e. noisy operation before giving up the ghost, where as belts notoriously just go.

[davlad22]

Chains are fine for pushrod lumps, never hear of a chain let go on any 4 cyl.

Mind you I changed the cam chain on my 250 after 20,000 miles

Realy, I have seen many, even on pushrods (i.e. like the rover V8) and particularly tensioner failure.

Mark, have you ever seen one go on a 2.2DTi? I too have heard of them going in the 2.2 Petrol Astra's & Veccys, is this the same one that is in the Omegas? TIA

[sadman43]

  well folks i`ll keep an eye on my chains or rather an ear. i do regular servicing mysef don`t trust garages to do it at least i know whats done if i do it mysefl and anyway i find it an easy car to service, but would`t attemt to replace the chains myself.