was there anything wrong that necessitated the chain being changed?

was there anything wrong that necessitated the chain being changed?

 

Not really, I guess just me being paranoid, I could have sworn I heard a loose chain in there (and I know what a loose chain sounds like). Mainly it was the horror stories of a chain breaking inside an interference engine. Just wanted to check it, and if I am going as far as checking it I might as well put a new one in there, that was my strategy.

Looking back at it, I probably didn't have to do it, because everything was still in excellent shape, but oh well, I learned a lot...

-Dmitry

was there anything wrong that necessitated the chain being changed?

 

Chains last a long time, but they are still a wear item. They do stretch and the engine is a interference engine. If we keep our car past 150K miles, I'll have the t-chain changed.

Thanks for sharing the pics - should come in very handy! Looks a lot cleaner that mine (underhood and inside with the valvetrain exposed) - I really need to clean up under the hood. What oil and oil change interval do you follow - if you don't mind me asking?

So how does it run and sound now with the new chain? Any quieter than before? I'm also thing about that soon - approaching 150K miles on my 2002 - chain is probably in good shape, but you never really have too much maintenance.

 

I think it's more quiet, but it's hard to tell, it's still a loud engine, I'll have to take another listen with a stethoscope... Didn't really notice any difference in the way it runs, but then I didn't really expect to. As far as oil, it's beed Syntec at 4-5K intervals. Thinking of switching to Mobil1 after all the goot stuff I read about it.

I usually try to keep the engine pretty clean, just makes maintenance so much easier. (I did also clean it as much as I could without getting it all over with a degreaser before I started). It's a lot harder to do that with all the covers off...

By the way, thanks for your valve clearance pics, that was nice to have before I started! I checked mine, they were all within spec, although closer the upper limit. Wish I actually wrote down the numbers. Oh well, next time...

But yeah, the only weird thing was that it took a while for it to start up again after I was done, which just about gave me permanent shakes, lol... I think it was the fact that the VVT sprocket was locked in a bad posistion for starting and it took a bit for the oil pump to get the pressure built up again to unlock it. At least that's my guess, I did also change the oil after I was done, just to get out any coolant or old gasket material that dropped into the pan. Once it started, it ran and still runs fine since then, not sure what else it could have been, any ideas?

-Dmitry

Great pictures!!

Thanks, I bookmarked the page.

Great pictures! Did you use a repair manual to guide you?

Isn't there a measurement you can take on the old chain to see if it has stretched beyond limits?

How long did the job take you? Did you have some help?

Now that you have done it, do you feel qualified to help others to do the same?

Aside from the chain being replaced was the crank and camshft gears changed as well?

Aside from the chain being replaced was the crank and camshft gears changed as well?

Yeah, I think you have to change everything as a set, so chain, three sprockets (including the VVTi assembly on the intake cam sprocket), and the two guides. I also replaced the tensioner, crankshaft seal on the timing chain cover, and a couple of other seals as well.

Great pictures! Did you use a repair manual to guide you?Isn't there a measurement you can take on the old chain to see if it has stretched beyond limits?

 

How long did the job take you? Did you have some help?

Now that you have done it, do you feel qualified to help others to do the same?

 

I did use a repair manual, and there is also another pdf that basically has the same instructions, here it is timingChain.pdf, (some of the torque specs are different from the manual, but not by too much). Here is another article on valve clearance check, which you might as well do if you have the valve cover off... valveClearance.pdf.

And you're right, there is a measurement you can take to check the wear, but I never did since I got all the parts beforehand (I kept the old ones though, so I guess I can do that one of these days). For stuff like that, my strategy usually is, if I'm going to go as far as taking it all apart to check it, I might as well put a new one in there, the car does have quite a few miles on it, so I'd have to replace it at some point...

I think it took me a night and two days, took it apart one night after work, spent the next day cleaning the parts and put it back together the day after that. You could probably do it in a day, but I like to take the time and look around, and make sure everything is clean before I put it back together. Cleaning old gasket material off the engine and timing chain cover was a little tedious.

I did it all myself, it wasn't too bad, I was just a little worried about the FIPG gasket I had to do for the chain cover, since I've never done it before and you have to put a couple of parts back together within a few minutes. There are a couple of places where there is only a thin line separating the water pump from the chain, so I was little nervous...

And yeah, I guess I do feel qualified now, lol.

Just replaced the timing chain on my '02 Corolla with 165,000 miles on it.

Here's a zip with some pictures, if anyone is interested. There is a bunch in there (I mainly took them for myself to help remember where stuff goes), I didn't have time to sort through so I just zipped them all, sorry for the big file. Maybe I'll make a page out of thumbnails later.

Anyway, let me know if anyone finds it useful...

http://www.therussian.net/random_crap/TimingChain.zip

-Dmitry

Was the new actuator/intake sprocket in a tub of oil?, is that a procedure for those?