1998 Grand Am 2.4 Quad 4 Ticking Video... Any thoughts?

[doug2060]

I took a video of my car ticking away. It doesn't do it until it warms up or if you rev it up a bit when cold. Compression checks out to be excellent. I pick up the noise with my stetoscope anwhere from the timing cover and almost half way down the exhaust side cam housing. Any thoughts or opinions are much appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvHbji3w7cs

I'm going into it tomorrow. Any thoughts or opinions are much appreciated.

[doug2060]

I finally got around to taking the car apart. I may have found the cause. There was a wad of red silicone stuck in the oil hole for the chain tensioner. I also found what appears to be contact marks between the timing chain and cover. The scratches are not deep but you can clearly tell something was hitting it.

Photo's:

Here you can see the wad of red silicone which was blocking up the oil hole:


Here you can see where the chain has been making contact.


Would this have been enough to cause all that noise?

[3100]

to be honest that was my first guess but was afraid to comment thinking that video noise is tricking my hearing, but it did sound like chain rattling.

anyway you have a clear evidence. Do some research you can measure chain stretch but since you are already there buy a new one if it is not expensive and you will have a piece of mind later on since they can break and destroy valves etc.

[doug2060]

Thank you 3100.

I am actually considering buying this kit from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tab%3DWatching

I consider myself to be very well mechanically inclined but far from an actual mechanic. Thank you for your help. I really like being able to get advice and opinions on this stuff before I tear something up or make it worse. Keep em coming guys...