well i had a dig around inside the engine and found the upper chain tentioner was seized. and worn badly, which then moved on to being broken bits ofthe rubbing pad. i can't locate one for the life of me, any of you chaps got a stuffed engine we can nick the part outa ! nissan GA 15 dohc 1996
morrisman1,
Feb 8, 6:12am
hmm, I have one sitting here from a 97 ga16de. Not much wear.
You can get the timing chain kits through partsmaster which come with the whole lot.
mantagsi,
Feb 8, 6:48am
is it just me or is this one hell of a common problem with these GA15DEs
morrisman1,
Feb 8, 7:18am
Many GA series engines are getting up around the milage where these parts are wearing out so naturally there will be a few around which need them replaced. A bit like wheel bearings and suspension bushes.
It is not so much a design flaw but more of a wear and tear issue, perhaps it would have been better to use a idler gear as a tensioner
the-lada-dude,
Feb 8, 7:17pm
i thought these little eng were bullet proof ! but i must admit that chain tensioner is a poxy system. it's also frustrating that( A )the customer doesn't want to spend money ( B ) there are probably lots of U/S eng's around ( C ) i cant find any, and it's hard to to justify the time looking for one if i was desperate i could adapt another rubbing block to the unit, but that just becomes a nightmare. i might come back to you MORRIE M and see if you might part with your old one
mm12345,
Feb 8, 7:51pm
Nissan parts customer service can be a PITA at times. Sometimes they don't seem to be able to locate the part number for an individual part, only a complete kit, but if you can give them the part number, then they can locate it on their system.(Recent example I had was panhard bushes for my old safari/patrol.Nissan NZ insisted that I need an entire panhard rod with bushes for $600+.Through help on a forum, I get the part numbers, give those to Nissan, they have stock in NZ, and cost was only about $12 for one and $18 for the other.) I've got a pdf FSM for GA16DE (US Sentra).Tensioner is probably identical for GA15 and GA 16DE models.Morrisman's part will probably work for you. Crapped out tensioner is probably from slack servicing - lack of oil changes.I have a GA15DE here with 200,000km, still runs very sweet and quiet.Have had other issues (oil leaks/AFM/distributor), but in general these do seem to be bullet-proof motors.
morrisman1,
Feb 8, 10:17pm
Its about $160 to buy a new top tensioner from nissan, pretty pricey considering you can get the whole kit including chains, tensioners and oil seals from partsmaster for under $200
My old sentra is about to tick over 300,000km and Ive had a look at the tensioner and its fine although has grooves about 2mm deep from chain wearing on it, that is perfectly acceptable wear in my books.
I also know of a ga14ds which drank some water and bent all the conrods. There is probably still a tensioner on there but the engine was dismantled to see what damage was done so no guarantees and I cant get anything off it straight away
the-lada-dude,
Feb 9, 12:50am
i've been banging on at a wrecker for 3 days now, recons he will have one some where, he's got 1/2 hr left then i think i'll give up, if i dont have any luck, do you want to sell that tensioner MM ! if so we can set up an auction.
the-lada-dude,
Feb 9, 1:18am
the wrecker recons they have found one ! says it should be in my hot little hand tomorrow, w'ell see. ta MM
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