Sr18de with bad chain rattle have replaced tensioner but made the problem worse so may have stretched chain or worn guides. Does anyone have experience with this and does the head need to be removed?
That's just the tensioner, I need to replace the whole chain. Have had a few quotes and sounds like it would be cheaper getting a whole new motor.
franc123,
Jan 7, 10:33pm
Which could be in a similar state to the one you are pulling out. Good SR's are getting harder to get by the day, I'd be pulling the rocker cover off if you haven't done so already and seeing how sludged up it is inside and the state of the cams and rockers, if all good then rechain it. Problem is those motors have gone too well for too long, many are in a shocking state from lack of good oil servicing.
panicky,
Jan 7, 10:37pm
you also need to check the oil feed to the tensioner is not blocked
mitsiboy69,
Jan 7, 11:07pm
Yeah I have had the cover off and it looked ok, I was planning on replacing the chain but have had two quotes for $1500 due to the fact that the head needs to come off. I can get a new engine in for about half that so it's not worth it.
thunderbolt,
Jan 8, 12:07am
Correction, you can get a used engine with an unknown history for half that price, plus fitting and additional consumables
xs1100,
Jan 8, 12:29am
agree,sometimes its better the devil you know
franc123,
Jan 8, 12:58am
Hey if you want to do that, go ahead. Just be careful about what you are buying that's all. Its more about knowing what you have if you fix the existing engine.
delmic,
Jan 9, 2:36am
for the sake of us readers who dont know. does the head have to come off? thanks
morrisman1,
Jan 9, 2:45am
if the timing chain has stretched, the rest of the engine is probably not that flash. Good engines are getting harder to find for sure but they are around. Its not going to blow up straight away, I suggest keeping your ear to the ground to find another good SR18. You could do SR20 but you would need ECU and air flow meter, otherwise it will fit straight in. (cert would technically be required)
Good engines can normally be identified by looking under the oil cap - crisp golden alloy means she's a goodie, black means average, black sooty or sludgy - walk away.
morrisman1,
Jan 9, 2:49am
I believe you could get away without taking the head off. Accessibility is going to be limited with the engine in the car either way. Limited but do-able
jcwholesale,
Jan 9, 5:08am
Old SR motors are now 20 years old, even with noisy chains I haven't seen one fail because of that. Just drive it till it stops, the cost of replacement out weighs the value of the car. You will probably get another 3 years out of it. Not that I would know of course I only sell that old shit. The experts, habitual posters, here will tell you something different of course.
rlr29,
Jan 9, 6:21am
Why would you take the head off? You can do the chain in the car, but it would be hard to do the guides.
morrisman1,
Jan 9, 1:43pm
both bolts for the guides are accessible with the head on, but whether there is enough room to take them out I could not guarantee, but I would expect there is looking at the block I have here.
mrfxit,
Jan 9, 2:10pm
All those late 80's /early 90's style bluebirds/primera's etc are a PIG to work on for most engine parts. Nissan may as well have literally shoehorned the engine in to that bay with a dirty big lever & NO consideration given for having to work on them later. .
Nissan Hamilton have quoted me $2K for doing the chain/guides/ tensioner set on our 86 SR20DE Bluebird.
Best practice is to remove engine, remove head & sump, THEN front cover & replace the set.
Most of the time you can leave the head on but you do run the risk on reassembly of crunching the head gasket (cam cavity section) You don't really need to drop the sump right off but again, you run the risk of the gasket leaking later if not cleaned & sealed or replaced properly
You can do the job in place but you WILL loose skin & your temper a few times plus possible scratch or slightly dent the guard.
The good bit is that the new chain set will probably out last the rest of the engine. Great engines for reliability but gutless & thirsty for their CC rating compared to a lot of other brands. You can make them sing but it costs $$ for mods & WILL cost a lot of extra gas using that extra power.
In a lot of ways, I would rather pull the 4cyl & shoehorn a rebuilt Maxima v6 in there
mrfxit,
Jan 9, 2:13pm
Insitu buddy, is a totally different story from the mid 80's onwards, they just got a tighter & tighter fit each model onwards.
Could well work out cheaper getting an import engine replacement for the average joe blogg's
gmphil,
Jan 9, 3:37pm
wind around till find joining link put top cam . disconect joining link and join new chain . now u need another person as u need wind motor over by hand feeding on new chain while taking off old when get to end take of old join new together . take care to hold both fimily on cam as one slip will bugar timing . as tensioner still working . last time done this was twenty odd years ago
ceebee2,
Jan 9, 4:54pm
I have many years ago on a similar model used a chain connector and spliced it on with only loosening the chain tensioner and rotating the engine till the old chain is removed and connected the new together. Works well with motor cycle chains as well. Took about 30 min.
franc123,
Jan 9, 5:04pm
Yes its well worth trying to do it that way if you have two people who know what they are doing, you can remove the tensioner, can get a new chain with a connecting link, and you cant see any problems with broken or excessively worn guides or tension rails. A lot of this modern multi chain stuff with internal tensioners you simply can't do it like that sadly.
mrfxit,
Jan 9, 6:51pm
Yea some of the sods have a non return ratchet tensioner The concept is that by the time the chain needs replacing, so should the rest of the chain system
Nissan bluebirds also often have a non return ratchet on the rear disk brake calipers. It can be turned back for fitting new pads but the pistons are often badly rusted by hten
joanie04,
Feb 20, 8:38pm
Just over 18 months ago my Nissan Avenir was diagnosed with a stretched timing chain after the engine light came on. Total cost with tensioner, guides, seals,chain and water pump was just under $1900. Car had only travelled just over 150,000km but we don't think it had been regularly serviced. Our fault for not checking thoroughly. Anyway hasn't missed a beat since.
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