I am familiar with the death rattle. Ive had the chain replaced once and I just replaced the tensioner again. My question is I have a 2008 S Hardtop. I was hearing a light rattle so I decided to change the tensioner again. Once I did I fired it up and it was the same. Later in the night after it cooled down completely I fired it up and it was horribly loud so I shut it off and had it towed to a local shop to look at replacing the timing chain etc. I didnt risk driving it to damage it anymore. I know the oil level is fine now but a month ago I replaced the turbo oil line with the detroit tuned one. I know that without getting in there and looking I have no real idea if the engine got damaged or not. With this all said I am very impatient. Anyone know what the odds are of the actual engine being toast when these fail? All I can assume is that the timing chain tensioner is pushing on a broken guide and causing the noise but I am just guessing. I did realize this time the tensoner was really hard to get started when threading it in. I just assumed this was due to the tensioner being longer now.

 

Curious, how many miles when the chain was replaced? In any case, not much you can worry about until they get the valve cover off..

 

I know but it just sucks. Maybe 50k miles. Ive been traveling a lot Lets just keep our fingers crossed. I really cant afford a new engine.

 

So today I get the call that they want to replace my engine. They are telling me that they are getting a lower bearing noise and that the timing chain is running smoothly. Honestly this is completely different than what I was hearing a few days ago. They told me it would be 1k to drop the oil pan and pull the valve cover. So I asked them about checking the compression. Again they said the compression seems just fine. They keep defaulting to an engine. I am just going to go get it and pull the valve cover and drop the oil pan myself next week. I can't see making a decision like this if they are not even looking inside. Something doesnt seem right with this place imo.

 

It could be many things. When I had my chain problem the mechanic said he had a few cars come in but the chain looked fine and thought the same about them being major internal engine jobs. Both times it turned out to be the oil pump which was making the noise.

 

I will get a second opinion. It sounds like a heavy knock but it came out of the blue. I am planning on saving for a crate motor but I will get back into it next week. I will have to look into the oil pump. Thank you.

 

I am going to see if it's being caused from a vacuum leak. I asked them about this since I know I was in the area of the air/oil separator but they brushed that off. I have heard this can cause knocking sound in the same area.

 

If something doesn't sound right always get a second opinion and not from the dealer, you can save yourself a lot of money.

 

Any Updates on this? Vacuum? Oil Pump? Create Motor?