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Advice needed


Primerdimer

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I’ve got a 521 with a stock L16. For the last month or so I’ve been having this clacking noise coming from the front of the engine (especially when the engine is cold on a cold day) which led me to believe that I probably needed swap out the timing chain, tensioner and guides... 

 

So here I am today, have the pan all dropped, valve cover off, and cant really see any signs that anything should be changed. The chain seems tight (I guess? Not sure how to check it actually), guides don’t seem worn, and the notch seems lined up just to the right of the cam...

 

The advice I’m looking for is advice on what to do from here? If it is not stretched and in good condition, is it worth taking the cover off and water pump when they have non-leaky seals as of now? Or should I just swap it all out since I’m here already? And what are some things to look for to tell me whether this chain is good/bad? Thanks a lot!

 

 

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If the notch is positioned just to the right of the horizontal etch mark with the cam dowel in the number 1 hole on the sprocket, then the chain is certainly not stretched. I wouldn't try to fix something that is not broken. Put a new oil pan gasket on and call it good.

 

 

Clacking when cold, but I assume this goes away when engine warms up??? Could be an exhaust leak near the thermostat housing.  Next time it's good and cold have someone start it and quickly feel around the exhaust manifold at the head. Takes a good 5-10 seconds for the pipe to get too hot to touch. If there's a leak you'll maybe feel the exhaust pushing out.  

 

Clacking could also be piston slap. This is excessive piston to cylinder wall clearances made worse by cold. As it warms up the clearances tighten up. If it's just that there's nothing you can do about it.

 

What oil are you using?

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19 minutes ago, datzenmike said:

If the notch is positioned just to the right of the horizontal etch mark with the cam dowel in the number 1 hole on the sprocket, then the chain is certainly not stretched. I wouldn't try to fix something that is not broken. Put a new oil pan gasket on and call it good.

 

 

Clacking when cold, but I assume this goes away when engine warms up??? Could be an exhaust leak near the thermostat housing.  Next time it's good and cold have someone start it and quickly feel around the exhaust manifold at the head. Takes a good 5-10 seconds for the pipe to get too hot to touch. If there's a leak you'll maybe feel the exhaust pushing out.  

 

Clacking could also be piston slap. This is excessive piston to cylinder wall clearances made worse by cold. As it warms up the clearances tighten up. If it's just that there's nothing you can do about it.

 

What oil are you using?

Thanks! Yea I’ll try that with the exhaust. Just checked all my valves and all the gaps were super tight. I did the last valve adjustment while hot, this was cold. Maybe it had something to do with it? Hopefully not piston slap, definitely sounds like it was in the front top part of the valve cover. Is there something the fuel pump might be doing to make this noise? I’m using rotella t4 15w-40

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Check to make sure the bolt holding the crank pulley on is tight. The noise could be the pulley rocking back and forth.

 

To check tension on the chain, rock the engine clockwise with the crank pulley bolt and check the tension.

 

The noise could be a broken chain guide. It's not uncommon for the straight guide to crack at the top bolt hole. A lot of times, this happens because someone put a too-long bolt in the thermostat housing and pushed the guide over.

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Ok, so i put everything back together and was going to flush out the coolant but after starting, I’m getting some loud valve train noise. Kind of sounds like it’s not getting oil pressure, but I’m not sure how to tell without a gauge.... I’m not even sure if that’s the sound I’m hearing since I adjusted valves too. I also put on a new oil pump. I’ll try to make a link with a video so you can hear it.

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I primed the pump by putting oil in the two holes and spinning the distributor shaft before installing... hope that was right. Anyone have a way to check oil pressure? I think I’m gonna just remove the filter and start it real quick... when I checked all my valves (cold), they were tight. I adjusted them, so I’m wondering i them wrong? I adjusted all the intakes for .020, and exhausts to .024 while cold and before this, I didn’t really have much valve noise so it seemed odd that they were all off spec

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Cold valve clearance, between the camshaft and pad in the middle of the rocker arm is .008 intake, .010 exhaust.  on a hot engine, not warm, hot .010 intake .012 exhaust.

The hole for the oil pressure switch is a British thread standard.  You need an adapter to change to a 1/8 (USA) pipe thread.  Then you use an oil pressure gauge.

Starting the engine without an oil filter will pump a lot of oil out quickly, and guarantees you have no oil pressure at the bearings.  Do not do this. 

 

Oil pressure adapter, Edelmann number 265220.

Edited by DanielC
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On vedios it always sound louder on the vid

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I myself do the specs per the Schneider cam  which is .006 in intake and .008  exhaust

 

if one wants to prime the pump one can rought a hose to the front by taking the oil filter off and rout hose to the front cover and shoot oil to the front cover which it fill fill the oil pump gears so it can creat a vacuum to suck up the oil in the pan.

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