Ideas on Cause of Rattle Noise?

ERod123

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I turned the car on one day and immediately noticed a loud rattle noise from the passenger's side head. I popped off the valve cover and noticed the secondary timing chain tensioner plastic guide (bottom one) was broken to pieces and there was some slack in the secondary chain. I replaced the sec timing tensioner and the rattle is still there. I have some aftermarket pistons with valve relief indents and didnt notice any markings on the top of the pistons using a borescope. I also have aftermarket cams.

View attachment 1719573View attachment 1719572
Any ideas? Just need to retime? Broken primary chain guide? Bent valves? Bad lifter/rocker?
Here is the noise:
 

ERod123

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The tensioner was replaced though, so it should be working. I will have to remove the timing cover and check for other damage.
 

ERod123

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I popped off the timing cover, and everything seemed fine. Everything seemed to be in time.

I noticed that the plunger seal (White plastic on right) from the new tensioner fit loosely within the cylinder chamber, so oil could be leaking out and not putting enough tension? The old tensioner's plunger seal had a much more tight fit. I want to prime the block with oil to see if it seeps out.

Do they make oil priming kits for these motors? Id rather buy a kit than rig something up.

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03' White Snake

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I popped off the timing cover, and everything seemed fine. Everything seemed to be in time.

I noticed that the plunger seal (White plastic on right) from the new tensioner fit loosely within the cylinder chamber, so oil could be leaking out and not putting enough tension? The old tensioner's plunger seal had a much more tight fit. I want to prime the block with oil to see if it seeps out.

Do they make oil priming kits for these motors? Id rather buy a kit than rig something up.

View attachment 1721621
I rigged up a garden sprayer and hose. Threaded a barb into the oil cooler, Removed the 1/8” NPT plug and primed it from there.
 

ERod123

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Alright, so I rigged up the garden sprayer and did an oil prime test. The only strange thing I found so far was that the primary tensioners have a small hole where oil was seeping out of, I guess for dampening? I will have to try turning the engine by hand as well as priming.

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Is there anything in the valvetrain that can make this noise? Lash adjuster? Cam follower rollers?

It seemed like these were all working when turning the engine by hand.
 

03cobra#2

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I'm sure you allready checked this but did you pull all the plugs? Run the engine with the super charger belt off? If your going to take the valve cover off I would pull all the lifters and throw them in a vice to make sure they are OK.
 

ERod123

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I'm sure you allready checked this but did you pull all the plugs? Run the engine with the super charger belt off? If your going to take the valve cover off I would pull all the lifters and throw them in a vice to make sure they are OK.
Yeah, I've pulled the plugs and stuck a borescope camera on the passenger side cylinders and didnt notice anything strange. I did run the engine with the supercharger belt off for a little bit and noise was still there.

Next, I will be pulling the lifters and cam followers. Is there a spring tool or will a simple flathead screw driver do the trick?
 

ERod123

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I popped off all the lifters and cam followers. They all seemed to be working, even used a vice clamp to test the lifters. I tried sticking a camera at the oil pickup tube and in the limited view I had, I didn't see any debris in it. I know the tensioners get oil because I took the secondary one off and the oil feed hole had oil coming out of it when I primed the block.

I filled the pan with about 6qts of oil and let the starter turn the engine. Here is what the tensioners are doing. The passenger side sec tensioner (New) seems to have a lot of movement:

 

ERod123

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Did you replace the RH side sec chain? Looks like it might be stretched?
I took both sec chains off and laid them next to eachother. I did not see any stretch or broken links on the passenger.


The only thing that I can think of now is that the tensioner I installed is not of quality build. I may just need to buy a new set again. My best bet might just be to install everything and let the car run without the valve cover to see whats making the noise.
 
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JaCobro

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Hm. Does seem odd that the sec chains have that much slack. I suppose it could be the tensioner. Your original video did sound like chain slap.
Might be the angle, but the right side sec chain looks like it’s hitting the primary chain guide, in your last video? Prob not bc it is behind it.

I didn’t see if you mentioned it. But whose tensioners are you using? I would put OE in or better since you have it apart.
 

ERod123

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I bought a Melling BT405 tensioner from Rockauto. I also here the click/slap in the video but am not sure where its coming from, but it definitely is in sync with the sec tensioner piston moving up. And I dont believe the tensioner/sec chain is hitting the guide because I dont see any markings on it:
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ERod123

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I ended up just ordering some MMR timing gear. In particular, this is an MMR 444036 passenger side secondary timing chain tensioner. It seems to leak oil at the bottom when I primed the engine block. I even put gasket maker at the oil galley for the tensioner. Is that normal?
 

ERod123

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Just to put an end to this thread... I installed some upgrade MMR timing components (pass Sec Tensioner, both primary Tensioners, Secondary Timing chains) and put everything back together and no more rattle. I'd definitely recommend MMR. The oil seep from their timing tensioner was to lubricate the chain I believe.

Now the trans is fkd but thats a whole other issue.
 

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