I've never been a fan of just replacing the secondary tensioners but, hey, it's seemingly worked for quite a few peeps. The previous owner did just that in my car, however.... Saturday morning I was already planning to head to the shop to replace the leaking power steering hose. When I started the car I was greeted with a rude noise which I first thought was the power steering pump growling from lack of fluid. Not quite the sound I would expect but considering the leak it seemed possible. I opened the hood (bonnet) to add some fluid and it was apparent the noise was something else. Being too cheap and time-pressed to call for a rollback I drove on in to the shop and grabbed a stethoscope. Hmm... noise from right front of the engine and not a belt driven item. At least I had the foresight to grab that box of timing chains and tensioners, etc. that had been collecting dust in my garage for the past year and a half. Yeah, that's me. Always on top of things. LOL More good intentions than free time.

About an hour and a half later (had to make my own tools for the job) I found that the right hand straight rail had shed its plastic, the chain had contacted the steel backing rail and ripped it from its securing bolt leaving it bouncing around in the timing cover. Luckily I have good karma, otherwise the rollback would have been a wise move. *rollseyes*

118,000 miles.

Replaced four chains, four tensioners, four guides, crank seal, water pump, thermostat housing, power steering pressure hose, repaired a cracked valve cover, removed the intake manifold and replaced all hoses, removed the oil pan and pickup tube for cleaning, completely annihilated five coil connectors and witnessed the return of the throttle body connector to its original molecular level. Also, I made my own tools for replacing the chains.

Nineteen hours.

What I've learned:

I'm luckier than I realize.

Plastic valve covers can be repaired (within reason) (Permatex Cold Weld)

1" thick-walled aluminum box tube is not adequate for holding the cams in place while torquing the drive bolts. A piece of 1" mild steel angle iron works well. Cutting and drilling required.

The plastics used in this car are crap. (O.K., I already knew that)

The spark plug tube gaskets will leak if you don't apply a thin layer of Permatex Right Stuff (my fav') on their mating faces. No need to apply to the entire valve cover gasket, just the tube gaskets.

Most people don't understand how/when/where to use sealants. Silicone in a tube isn't a cure-all and there are always different ways it must be used. You can't just squeeze a glob on something and bolt it together. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!! Most silicone sealants have a set-up time before installation. Some don't, but you're going to pay for that quality. Check out this chart: http://tinyurl.com/pmm8ty3 Geez, the amount of time I've spent over the years cleaning off the crap someone used and it didn't even do the job... And please, please, don't use 3M weatherstrip adhesive/gorilla snot/baby s**t for anything but weatherstripping!

I hate the chalky white mess DexCool makes wherever it leaks out. (Yeah, I already knew that also) A steam cleaner and Greez-Off will remove it very nicely.

The little 'whack' I used to hear when first accelerating in the mornings apparently wasn't the cam phasers as I originally thought. It must have been the primary tensioners taking up slack as the sound is now gone.

I realize this is a long read but I hope it inspires some to do the whole job the right way. This is my 45th year as a professional mechanic and the number one thing I've learned is there are too many ways for something to bite you in the fanny. I maintain first responder equipment for a large metro and six suburban departments. We had equipment running for six days straight, 24 hours each day, at the massive GE fire and not a single one of our pieces had an issue. That doesn't happen by luck. Do it right or park it until you can.

 

Did you ever get your steering 'reach' repaired?

Found a good thread on the repair starting after the wheel/air bag removal but would need some coaching on that part.

 

Book time or clock time?

 

The reach motor repair has been holding on for what, three years now? The motor drives a threaded shaft through a nut made from a UHMW polyethylene. The nut was stripped out on my column and was a bit involved to repair. Complete column removal is required. Part of the assembly includes a couple shear bolts that are threaded from the inside of the column tube. They are the reason I was hesitant to document the repair - my concern for those lacking the skills and/or patience to complete the job properly. I'd hate to hear that someone lost control of their car because they boogered up making the nut or adequately securing the shear bolt replacements (which, if they came loose would most definitely jam the steering shaft.) So I'm leaving it this way: if you have the skills to make the repair you don't need my help. All I can say is that it can be done.

In regard to the air bag removal here are the 'standards' for SRS systems:

1) ALWAYS disconnect the battery first. ALLOW a MINIMUM of five - ten minutes for the system to discharge before proceeding to any dismantling/disconnecting. The systems DO maintain adequate voltage to fire any/all bags without battery voltage present, in case of power being severed in an accident.

2) NEVER cut or attempt to repair ANY yellow wires on an SRS equipped vehicle. They're bright yellow for a reason! Changing their resistance by changing the length of the wire or adding/subtracting connections can cause the kind of problems you don't want.

3) Wearing a wrist ground strap is a good idea. Sliding around on upholstery could create enough static to give you a bigger surprise than just a little spark...

4) ALWAYS set an air bag device down on a solid surface so if it were to deploy the bag will expand UPWARD. Having one deploy in any other direction will result in a flying device. And I'm not talking Piper Cub flying, I'm talking F-15 Strike Eagle flying! DO NOT sit anything on top of the device - See F-15 Strike Eagle firing its weapons. (there are some hilarious, yet painful, youtube vids of people sitting on air bags and deploying them. One in particular launched a large man straight into the garage ceiling.)

 

Clock time, unfortunately.

The largest time consumer was making the tools. Not that they were really difficult, just a bit time consuming. The crankshaft bolt was a bit irritating, there's absolutely no reason for it to be so difficult. It's as if it was made intentionally cross-threaded - difficult to twist from beginning to end.

The coil connectors are available aftermarket (sort of - they're for Dodge Concorde, et al, but will work) but they want ~$24 each! Geez, you can buy the coils for less. Looks like a trip to the junk yard with my trusty pair of wire cutters is in my future.

More bothersome is the throttle body connector. Not sure if I can source that one. I may try a new app that Aeromotive has - you take a picture with your cell phone and send it to them. They guarantee a response within thirty minutes. If that doesn't pan out I'm thinking I'll solder the terminals, pack the cavity with sealant and install a four-way weatherpack connector a few inches down line.

 

Just kidding about the book time. Even at 19 hours clock time, you done good

Solder is my preferred poison in those situations. If it ever has to come out again,
I'll splice it again.

Back in the early '80's, AMC was doing multiple distributor replacements on
their Motorcraft electronic ignitions per vehicle under warranty.

One day a vehicle came in that already had it done twice.
Because I don't like retiming distributors, I cut the connectors
off and soldered the connections. The vehicle never came
back. I figure that soldering the connections avoided the
real problem ... connectors expanding in summer heat.

Replacing the components meant breaking and making
the connections and the problem would go away for
awhile.

Factory changed to soldering the connectors on
warranty work

 

The cam locking tool is just to hold the cams in position while tightening the sprocket bolts. NOT to be used to hold the cams themselves!!!! while tightening. You risk pulling the two M6 and one M8 bolts from the aluminum head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The exhaust sprocket holding tool should be used as a counter-holding tool for both exhaust cam sprocket and the intake cam sprocket via the secondary chain!!!!!! just as the crank-lock tool should NEVER be used to hold the crank during the damper bolt tightening procedure.



I actually remove the cam and crank lock tools to tighten the damper bolt to prevent damage to the engine and/or tools during the EXTREME torqueing of the bolt.

There is no damper keyway or timing marks on the damper so it doesn't matter where the damper is 'clocked' while tightening.

It is just the way I do this and I have NOT bent any components in the dozens of chain/tensioner jobs performed.

bob gauff

 

Good point, Bob.

Actually I should have explained that I did use the tool to hold the cams. After I finished torquing them I noticed some lifting of the edges of the aluminum tubing I used to locate the cams. I agree with you, removing them first is a good idea. I'm just a bit **** at times and leave the bars in place to make sure everything remains properly located during the heavy torquing. The aluminum is pretty soft and it apparently didn't take much to leave a mark. Sometimes while torquing the cams will slip a bit in the sprockets, until they make adequate purchase. That's why I normally leave the bars attached.