Hey,
I have an '04 with 61K miles. I have dealt with the timing chain tensioner twice before and apparently replacement number 3 and another 130 bucks down the drain was due again.

I changed out the tensioner and to my complete and utter horror the noise has reappeared again almost immediately. It is not quite as bad as it was before and although im familar with the TCT noise already, I'm wondering if there is a chance that I may be wrong, and it may be something else that sounds similar as I can't be 100% positive that it is the exact same noise as before for some reason.

Hopefully someone can help make a educated guess for me of the problem given these particular symptoms.

1. Because the first time I had the tensioner replaced it was as a result of the dealership tec. taking my car out for a 'test drive' (my ass) and wrapping it nicely into a tree. I found out that they reinstalled the TCT using the incorrect bolt type and over trq'd the hell out of it and sheared off the bolt head.

Whether it was a result of that or just the numerous times that I have had to screw and unscrew this particular bolt, the last two times I have unscrewed the right side bolt, I have noticed a fair amount of flakes of the threading from the sleeve that the bolt screws into being removed with the bolt. I know it only calls for ~8# trq. on each screw, but on the right side I have found that I can no longer tighten the bolt down with any consitancy. I tried using a slightly longer bolt with only limited success, and finally settled on using the longer bolt with a decent dose of blue loc-tight on the right side and torquing the other bolt just a little bit tighter to help out the other side. The bolt seems to be biting at least a little bit and appears to be holding the tensioner firmly up to the engine as it should be. I do not believe that there is any kind of oil leaking for the contact are or anything like that.

I am afraid that next time this happens I will be forced to either figure out a way to re-tap the stipped thread or perhaps try to buy a much longer bolt that extends out through the other side of the hole and tighten a nut down on the other sign of the bolt in order to get some tightness that way?

Could a loosely attached bolt on one side of the tensioner, have any significant affect in causing the TCT to fail or not operate properly and be a cause for the noise to return?

2. The noise is not heard when I warm up a cold car. I can't remember if this is the way it has always been, but it is not until the car warms up a bit when I can hear that buzzing card in the spokes sound whenever im tooling around in first gear.

3. The noise is most ovious and apparent whenever i'm driving next to a wall of some kind or in a garage, I beleive this was always the case.
4. The noise drops away whenever I put my foot down on the clutch, again I beleive this was always the case, however I do beleive that I can hear it when im just idling and the car is in neutral.

5. I have not had a valve adjustment performed yet. I have heard that this can also sound somewhat similar to the TCT problem, is this a possiblity? What differences if any should be looking for if this is the case?

Also I sometimes get the feeling that it may be some kind of flywheel type issue due to the fact that the noise will normally cut off for a little bit as soon as I depress the clutch, is this any kind of possibility?

Finally, if it is a TCT what the hell would make the problem appear literally a just a few miles after I swapped out the part? anything else I should be looking for that may cause this to be an issue.


Thanks for the help, any suggestions that anyone may have or opionons about what may be the cause of the problem are unbelievably appreciated.

--Jeremy

 

Throw out bearing

 

^^ yes sir, sorry to hear about your stripped thread, i did that on the tranny drain bolt i you did the same thing you did with silicone sealent

 

If it stops when clutch in, definately

 

alright you guys rock thanks a lot for the help. If it is the throw out bearing will the noise always stop when the clutch is depressed? Over the last few days I noticed that while the noise will generally subside for a moment when I depress the clutch, it will soon return, it will also momentarily subside when i just shift into second and inch forward but then it will return.

Is the noise totally dissappearing when the clutch depressed a hard and fast rule or is it possible that you can still hear the chatter return after a moment or too?


The reason I ask is becuase I'm starting to suspect that it is still the TCT again, the noise is just too familar..


ya the tranny bolt I managed to do without a problem. The stripped bolt was about as bad a nightmare as it could get, it took about 3-4 days of brainstorming and experimenting with everything I could think of to get that damn thing out. In the end though I was happy that i had to do it. At the time, I was still very new to wrenching on my car, and I'm sure that this won't be the last stripped bolt that I'll ever have to deal with, and I doubt ill ever have to deal with one in that bad a spot ever again.

 

sorry for bumping and old thread, but how hard is it to replace a throw out bearing?

 

Remove old bearing, put new one on.

Thing is, you gotta get the transmission out of the way first

 

shiz. cuz my clutch makes a sound and goes away once depressed.

 

good luck. it'll take two people 9hrs with a jack and jack stands if you've never done it before

 

how bad is it driving with a warn bearing?