How tight should a timing chain be?
Discussion
Basically im trying to put a timing chain on a vectra after i let it drop when doing a cylinder head.
I thought all was ok yesterday (but had some worries about how effective the tensioner was, but it looked ok).
The chain at the top between sprockets was as tight as a drum, but at the bottom, there was a little slack. This could be removed by turning the crank pulley a little to take up the slack, however some slack returned when the cams got bolted down as the cam sprockets obviously pushed down with the force of the cams. It looked ok however until i went to crank it by hand after everything was together, and it jumped about 10 teeth before jamming.
Should the chain by fully tight all the way around, or should they be any slack at all? I think my tensioner piston isnt popping out enough (the guide pushed on by the tensioner literally has only got about one 5th of an inch left of movement before it hugs the chain a bit more and stops - i can force it by hand and make the chain even tighter) but dont want to risk damage.
Maybe time for a new tensioner, if i can get the old one out? Or is there anything else that could be wrong?
If anyone knows anything about the Z22SE engine, they might be able to advise, this is the tensioner at full stretch at the moment (guide rail out of the way for photo).
I thought all was ok yesterday (but had some worries about how effective the tensioner was, but it looked ok).
The chain at the top between sprockets was as tight as a drum, but at the bottom, there was a little slack. This could be removed by turning the crank pulley a little to take up the slack, however some slack returned when the cams got bolted down as the cam sprockets obviously pushed down with the force of the cams. It looked ok however until i went to crank it by hand after everything was together, and it jumped about 10 teeth before jamming.
Should the chain by fully tight all the way around, or should they be any slack at all? I think my tensioner piston isnt popping out enough (the guide pushed on by the tensioner literally has only got about one 5th of an inch left of movement before it hugs the chain a bit more and stops - i can force it by hand and make the chain even tighter) but dont want to risk damage.
Maybe time for a new tensioner, if i can get the old one out? Or is there anything else that could be wrong?
If anyone knows anything about the Z22SE engine, they might be able to advise, this is the tensioner at full stretch at the moment (guide rail out of the way for photo).
Edited by Acheron on Thursday 24th February 14:48
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