Did nissan ever fix the timing chain stretch?
Discussion
Hi all
My mother in law has an almera. Unfortunately it's got to go to the scrap yard or to some have a go mechanic on eBay as there is a big mot related bill to sort.
She loves it and has always liked it. It's only bill in the last 8 years has been the Renault timing chain fitted to it (1.5 engined) stretvjed and cost her a few bob to put right.
Amongst other contenders for a replacement is another almera. Hers was an 03 played car. There seem to be a few 05/6 plated cars l, (end of the production run I think?) in budget.
So, did nissan ever fix this problem, or could she be buying another timing chain stretch waiting to happen?
Cheers
My mother in law has an almera. Unfortunately it's got to go to the scrap yard or to some have a go mechanic on eBay as there is a big mot related bill to sort.
She loves it and has always liked it. It's only bill in the last 8 years has been the Renault timing chain fitted to it (1.5 engined) stretvjed and cost her a few bob to put right.
Amongst other contenders for a replacement is another almera. Hers was an 03 played car. There seem to be a few 05/6 plated cars l, (end of the production run I think?) in budget.
So, did nissan ever fix this problem, or could she be buying another timing chain stretch waiting to happen?
Cheers
Or, has any manufacturer fixed timing chain dramas? Aside from Mercedes?
Nissan micra k12 has problems with timing chain - engine out job.
The vr6 engine of the 90s suffered with timing chain rattles and wear and it more modern equivalent, r32 and 3.2 v6 in Audi tt etc suffer from stretched timing chains.
Last month garage replaced timing chain on a 30k mile VW touran 1.4 tsi it was seven years old, vag UK just said it's a seven year old car go away.
Four cylinder petrol BMWs have suffered this problem ie since e46 and the problem persists through the range to today's models, n47 is a weak engine and its failures continue into the newer cars.
From what I can see timing chains only seem reliable on larger six cylinder engines.
Nissan micra k12 has problems with timing chain - engine out job.
The vr6 engine of the 90s suffered with timing chain rattles and wear and it more modern equivalent, r32 and 3.2 v6 in Audi tt etc suffer from stretched timing chains.
Last month garage replaced timing chain on a 30k mile VW touran 1.4 tsi it was seven years old, vag UK just said it's a seven year old car go away.
Four cylinder petrol BMWs have suffered this problem ie since e46 and the problem persists through the range to today's models, n47 is a weak engine and its failures continue into the newer cars.
From what I can see timing chains only seem reliable on larger six cylinder engines.
TooMany2cvs said:
Timing chains stretch. ALL chains stretch as they wear. It's not a problem to be solved, it's routine maintenance - albeit without a precautionary schedule.
Routine maintenance? Buying a car with a chain generally should give you much longer mileage than a belt though?The chain on her current almera stretched at 37k miles
eltax91 said:
Routine maintenance? Buying a car with a chain generally should give you much longer mileage than a belt though?
Yep.eltax91 said:
The chain on her current almera stretched at 37k miles
...and twelve years. How many times would the cambelt have been changed in that time?Also, had the oil been changed at least annually?
TooMany2cvs said:
...and twelve years. How many times would the cambelt have been changed in that time?
Also, had the oil been changed at least annually?
It covers so little mileage we dropped the oil every 6 months. And put the approved nissan stuff in! It went at about 9 years old. So probably 2 x belt intervalsAlso, had the oil been changed at least annually?
TooMany2cvs said:
...and twelve years. How many times would the cambelt have been changed in that time?
Cam belt needs changing even when standing doing nothing as they perish, chains (afaik) don'tI believe there is a new option for a series powered cars of a chain that doesn't stretch
TooMany2cvs said:
eltax91 said:
Routine maintenance? Buying a car with a chain generally should give you much longer mileage than a belt though?
Yep.eltax91 said:
The chain on her current almera stretched at 37k miles
...and twelve years. How many times would the cambelt have been changed in that time?Also, had the oil been changed at least annually?
It's not routine maintenance.
Sump said:
Why are you just making crap up here?
I'm not.Sump said:
It's not routine maintenance.
Chains wear. When components wear, they get changed. They don't break - unless neglected once they start to wear - they're a wear item. When you replace worn wear items, that's routine maintenance.Unless, of course, you think that routine maintenance starts and stops at the service schedule?
Sump said:
TooMany2cvs said:
eltax91 said:
Routine maintenance? Buying a car with a chain generally should give you much longer mileage than a belt though?
Yep.eltax91 said:
The chain on her current almera stretched at 37k miles
...and twelve years. How many times would the cambelt have been changed in that time?Also, had the oil been changed at least annually?
It's not routine maintenance.
Cambelts will fail. I've had 3 failues in my driving career. I've never had a timing chain issue. My current daily driver has 110k on the clock and it has a timing chain. I have no worries about it failing any time soon.
Timing chain failure seem to affect particular modern engines, and its a design flaw. Especially if its an engine out job. That just shows that the manufacturer never intended it to be fixed. There is no reason timing chains should be any less reliable these days.
TooMany2cvs said:
Sump said:
Why are you just making crap up here?
I'm not.Sump said:
It's not routine maintenance.
Chains wear. When components wear, they get changed. They don't break - unless neglected once they start to wear - they're a wear item. When you replace worn wear items, that's routine maintenance.Unless, of course, you think that routine maintenance starts and stops at the service schedule?
Link me to where Nissan advise the chain replacement to be less than 37k or under 8 years.
You are talking an unbelievable amount of crap here, you should get a job at fox news.
TooMany2cvs said:
Sump said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Unless, of course, you think that routine maintenance starts and stops at the service schedule?
Link me to where Nissan advise the chain replacement to be less than 37k or under 8 years.There's some crap being spoken here: A cam chain is not a consumable and should last the life of the engine (providing that oil changes haven't been neglected).
Saab cam chains seemed pretty bullet proof, likewise the Ford Duratec engines. Japanese stuff's usually spot on too.
In fact, it mainly seems to be the Germans that struggle with cam chains (but that's probably because they're too busy living off past glories to actually engineer anything properly these days).
Saab cam chains seemed pretty bullet proof, likewise the Ford Duratec engines. Japanese stuff's usually spot on too.
In fact, it mainly seems to be the Germans that struggle with cam chains (but that's probably because they're too busy living off past glories to actually engineer anything properly these days).
DJP said:
There's some crap being spoken here: A cam chain is not a consumable and should last the life of the engine (providing that oil changes haven't been neglected).
Saab cam chains seemed pretty bullet proof
Odd. I must've imagined replacing the cam chain in my c900T16, because it'd worn, was stretched and was starting to get noisy. But, <shrug>.Saab cam chains seemed pretty bullet proof
Toaster Pilot said:
I don't think they ever did resolve the problem but then I've had a couple of QG15DE powered Almeras showing no sign of it, one at low mileage similar age/use to the one you describe and one huge mileage shed of a thing
what did it fail the MOT on?
Emissions. Badly. Why, you want it? what did it fail the MOT on? 
It also failed for the airbag light, which started flashing during the mot! I think it's the seat plug since I moved the seat back for my lanky legs with some accidental force. Will clear the codes when in get chance, just in case.
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