Should timing chain be replaced?

Anyone who's read any of my other posts knows I am a newbie who just bought a 98 Sentra GXE. It has 96k on it and was seemingly well maintained.

When my mechanic inspected it before I bought it, he mentioned that I was getting close to the mileage that the timing chain would need to be replaced. He said to check with Nissan to see if they recommended replacement at 90k or 105k, he assumed it was one or the other. My thought was, yeah, I'm not going to worry about that, and put it out of mind.

Fast forward a week. My cousin, who I havent seen in a while, comes to visit. Low and behold he parks a 98 Sentra GXE outside the house, which he bought in 02. We have the exact same car! In discussion about said car, he said, "make sure you get your timing chains replaced. I didnt, one broke at around 110k, and I had to put a whole new engine in." Now suddenly I am worried about timing chains!

So I get to searching on these forums, and nissanforums.com. Everyone on here seems to say "dont worry about replacing the timing chains they will last 200k+, if they get loose replace the tensioners and you will hear them if they are loose."

So now I dont know what to think. My mechanic isnt equipped to do the chains, so I'd have to put it in a shop. Do I need to worry about it?

Thanks guys!

Some engines you don't have to worry about the belts breaking, the belt snaps the engine shuts down and the car coasts to a stop and that is that, you get a new belt get everything back to how it should be the car starts right up and you are fine...

On the other side of things the belt snaps, there is a loud BANG!!! and the sound of shearing metal as the pistons and valves slam into each other at whatever RPMs you were doing at the time.

Which ever happens depends on how your engine was built, to keep bad things from happening I would replace the belt when the mfg. recommended that it be replaced. Unless you have an extra wad of $$$ or $$$$ laying around you cannot afford to replace the engine when it destroys itself.

If your mechanic cannot do it ask around at a few shops and see if they can do it for you at a price you can afford.

My shop manual only goes up to the model year 1990 but it calls for replacing the timing belt every 50,000 miles, my 1999 Suzuki Esteem calls for replacing it every 60,000 miles.

So, according to my Sentra book you are due for having the belt replaced very soon, or already due if no one changed it at 50,000 miles.

he has a chain, not a belt. chains usually do not need to be replaced before the rest of the engine.

i would leave it alone.

Oh, considering the year of the car I just figured it had a belt.

Chains are nothing to worry about until they start causing problems with the timing, so yeah, just leave it. As long as you change the oil when it needs it the chain will probably outlast the rest of the engine.

So, according to my Sentra book you are due for having the belt replaced very soon, or already due if no one changed it at 50,000 miles.

You have a Sentra book that speaks about the chain being replaced?

Well, again, by book only goes through 1990 and it is for a BELT not a CHAIN, it says:

It is recommended that the timing belt is renewed after 50,000 miles (80,000 km) have been covered.

In all reality, it's up to you in the end... if you wanna wait till 120k miles, it shouldn't be any problem, the engine in that thing is the GA16DE it's really popular in the tuning world in one part for it's reliability... your cousin must have gotten the shitty side of luck...

but i mean for the longevity of the engine, it wouldn't hurt to replace it between 125k and 150k, like i said it's up to you...

I have a 92 stanza with 250k miles on the engine, and im gonna change the chain within this month, but i have been playing russian roulette, because if your chain breaks, more likely than not, it's all over. cams get bent, valves get destroyed, and piston heads get gouged...

The repair cost of these things in labor alone would prolly cost more than a motor, especially if you can find a used one.

the reason nissan recomends it be changed at 105k is because it is preventative... (and because they would normally be liable if they said it didn't have to be changed until 200k and a bunch of em broke at 115k...)


hope that helps, and sorry it was a little long winded...

Yeah, a lot of that stuff is preventative/liability concerns...

"We told you to replace it at 105k, you didn't, it's not our fault your engine blew up".

Drives my wife crazy "Why are you replacing parts that aren't broke ?!?", now after over 80k miles and the car has never broken down once she understands and just lets me fix things when I think they need it.

Interestingly, I called the dealership, and they said they dont need to be replaced unless they break. That was their service dept.

HAHA that's funny... cause if it breaks more likely than not valves will be destroyed because they would no longer be synchronized with the pistons, so they would be able to charge you exorbitiant fees to fix those things.
Drives my wife crazy "Why are you replacing parts that aren't broke ?!?" people ask me that all the time... the best and most scilencing explanation i have found goes something like this... " Cars are moving chain reactions, this causes this,that causes this, that results in this... So if something in the middle of that reaction breaks there is going to be a high potential for damage along the rest of the reaction cycle as it tries to continue it's work without that broken piece"

Either it confuses them too much, or they just decide to (for once) listen to the person they are having fix their car, and go with what I say... The world's gone mad... :runaround:

When anyone askes me why I am replacing something that isnt broken, I tell them it is 'pre-emptive repair". I Very Much Prefer doing repair/maintenance work in my own driveway at my own pace -- to having the car towed home, or worse; towed to someplace where it will be worked on by a service facility getting $90 per hour.

you could always pull your cover and check the tension/ tensioner position to see how stretched it is, then if you need one get it, if not wait