Hi All,

Okay, so, I hear an engine rattle and think it's my tensioners and engine is going to implode.

When my car was at the mechanic about 18 months/15k km (10k miles) ago he checked the "tensioners" and told me they were plastic but in very good condition - as my car had done 210k kms (130k miles) he said they must have been replaced at some time. Yeah, I know....why would they have replaced them with new plastic tensioners. My mechanic is a very well known Jag specialist whom I have no reason to doubt. He suggested I get them done in the next 12 months or so.

Today, I noticed an unusal erratic tick/tap sound coming from the front of the engine. The sound disappear when the revs go about 600 rpms (ish). If my car is stationary you can hear it.

Anyway - you can hear the sound in this video, it's loudest at about the 30 second mark:
Should I panic? Any advice is welcome :-)

Troy.

 

First, the plastic tensioners should have been replaced immediately, irrespective of their condition. Second, 18 months is a bit over the advised "12 months or so". Otherwise, you should probably not panic but no more running the engine until you see what's wrong (probably disintegrated tensioners). If the main chain tensioners are also still plastic, replace those as well.

 

I'm unsure what that ticking noise is, but regardless, at 130K miles and no metal tensioners you should replace/upgrade your timing chains and tensioners immediately!

The job can be done for just a few hundred dollars if you do it yourself, and there are plenty of threads on the forum detailing how to, it becomes very expensive ($2.5K-3K US dollars) if you have a Jag specialist do it.

It is extremely expensive if you don't do it.

 

Could be tensioners and/or guides? ...if its a guide piece bouncing about, it can throw a chain and/or restrict oil flow in the pickup....really can't tell until you either break it down or run a bore scope down inside. Just pop the cam cover.

But in any case, as both MS and CK have said, ...the plastic ones should have been replaced and need to be replaced. Metal tensioners were standard in '03, so yours are at least 17 yrs old...food for thought.
Prompt the How To in my signature and look for the tensioner replacement post by blackonyx. Its not an overly complicated job, its mainly time consuming.

I'd be sure to replace tensioners, guides and chains...you won't want to have to do this again. Since you have the SC, replace the hosing going under the SC. I'd also do radiator hoses and thermostat and water pump...if you haven't already done those, plus since your putting new radiator fluid in....no sense losing it in 6 months.

 

Here is a link to the Blackonyx tensioner replacement walk-thru.

Tmingi chain and tensioner replacement

 

Hi All,

Thanks to everyone for for you feedback and suggestions (as always!)

I'm not going to drive the vehicle until my mechanic, Dr Jag (of Dural, NSW, Australia) is back from holiday on the 13th. It seems that the general consensus is that it could be my tensioners.....but not worth the risk.

If I had space or the tools I'm not sure I would feel confident in doing this myself. It'll cost me $3k if get Dr Jag to do this but I don't see there is much choice.

...I've only just finished having the transmission rebuilt ($7k), the front shocks/bushes all replaced and the entire cooling system (inc. radiator, water pump, thermo, hoses etc)....so a break between bills would have been nice!

I'll report back on what the actual problem was and confirm I've had the tensioners done.

Troy.