Hi everyone! I was changing out the valve cover gasket on the R53 today and inspected the timing chain guides (as far as I could see).

I noticed something a bit concerning; the rear guide has a small portion of about 2.5" of plastic broken off. As far as I could tell that was the only part that was broken. Here is a picture of it:



The front guide is fine. The previous owner had been (unknowingly) driving around with a stuck timing chain tensioner which I replaced as soon as I began driving it.

I didn’t really have plans to tackle the chain guides anytime soon (busy with school). Would it be alright for me to keep driving with these guides? I don’t really hear any abnormal valve train noise, just the occasional cold start tick which usually goes away after a couple minutes when the oil warms up (only happens in colder weather it seems).

Thanks in advance!

 

Time to start saving money for new guides, and maybe a chain. Asking how long you can drive like that is something that nobody can answer. Might last two years, might let go in two miles.

The choice is yours alone. It's only going to get worse over time. You will need to pull the crank pulley off, and everything including the front cover that houses the oil pump to change both guide rails.

If you are not comfortable in doing this yourself, time to find a shop that can do this for you.

Bryan

 

Thanks for the reply! I was doing a bit more reading and it looks like I will try to tackle this job in May before internship season

Does this DIY seem to cover most of the process of changing the guides? It doesn’t mention removing the crank pulley to get at the guides.

https://www.motoringalliance.com/art...er-guides.110/

 

if you are going to be doing any mechanical work on the engine or on the car itself.....get a proper service manual for the car. I suggest the very thick Bentley manual....usually $100 or less

You need to remove the main front crankshaft pulley-damper and anything else that is attached to the timing cover. You then have to remove the timing cover, valve cover, and the two large plugs in the front of the cylinder head to get the chain guides out.

You will need a special puller for the crank pulley,
click on this link --->
You will also need a good supply of metric tools and torx sockets, jack stands, floor jack, etc.
While you are in there, might want to replace the main serpentine belt and the belt tensioner

I'm sure others will chime in with other options

Bryan

 

Thanks! I’d like to see if anyone has managed to change just the guides without pulling the timing cover. I see that removing the timing cover would be required for replacing the chain, but I’ll probably do just the guides.

I’ll also keep this thread updated with how I change the guides for future readers.

 

Not possible. See here:
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/r...mshaft/FlXePxy

The cover has to come off to access the bolts holding down the guides.

+1 on the pulley remover cited above, I bought one and it made the removal very easy. Worth every dime.

 

Thanks for the info! I’ve got an ATI on the car now, so should be good for a long while on the crank damper

Looking at the TIS link it seems each guide is held on by 1 bolt each and each bolt is covered by a plug in the head. Correct my if I am wrong, but I believe I would need to pull the upper motor mount and then should have access to the plugs in the side of the head?

Thanks!

 

yes, you will need to remove the large aluminum mount that is bolted to the block on both sides of the cylinder head to gain access to the two plugs at the front of the head for the guide bolts

Bryan

 

For sure you need to replace that guide as the plastic parts fall off and plug up the oil pump pickup. We've seen it many times. But the root cause is usually the car will have 130k+ miles and the timing chain stretches just enough that the tensioner can't keep it tight. So the chain slaps on the guide and breaks the plastic off. This also bounces the tensioner and can pop it back into the service position making it "stuck". And you said you found it "stuck" so likely that is what has happened. I would replace the chain guides and sprockets to do the job right as the sprockets wear just like they do on bicycles.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/timing...0-r52-r53.html

 

Thanks for the reply Way! I found the chain tensioner stuck only after a warm start when I first purchased the car. Once the car built oil pressure it would become unstuck. I replaced the tensioner about 5,000 miles ago and haven't heard the chain rattle noise that I had heard before. I believe the chain was likely slapping around because the tensioner was not working properly. I suppose the chain could also be stretched but I would think there would be much more chain guide damage if the chain were stretched, and the tensioner would become stuck in service mode as you mentioned.

This does give me more to think about; thank you! I'm not looking forward to doing the chain and sprockets but I think I still have a couple months before I will atleast tackle the chain guides.

 

Mod A Mini is a relatively new mini YouTuber that has started to out out pretty decent content. She tackled this job not long ago. She covers the entire job in detail and links several great products to use. What I like about her is the willingness to show what doesn't go well.


The job isn't as difficult as it first appears. The right tools make all of the difference.

 

Thanks for the link! I did watch that video a while back but if I decide to tackle the chain and sprockets as well I'll give it another look. It is also nice to be able to see the whole cassette in one piece like she shows in the video.

 

it's not a whole cassette.....there are two separate guide rails, one chain, one cam gear, one crank gear, and the tensioner

Bryan

 

Hi guys!! I cannot believe I have just found a post with a reference to my video haha!? I really appreciate all the likes and subscribes - it must be so annoying for any 'experts' to watch me do it wrong sometimes haha but everyone has to start somewhere right??

Any ideas, tips and tricks I am so grateful to receive! Hopefully future content will go down just as well as my first videos have! :-)

 

Thanks for the great videos! I really like the detail you go through to make sure every aspect of the job is covered.