Got busy with the timing chain replacement

03 Dec 2016

Got the old timing chain out, I’ve put the new one in and timed the engine, now to bolt all the bits and pieces back on

Comments

Is it the infamous n47 engine ? How did you know it needed to change ? Cool pics btw 😊

It’s the equally famous n45 engine, when I’d bought the car it never ran well it battled to start up and had little power even for a 1.6. I looked into the engine and it’s faults and the first and most common thing when looking for a n45b16 engine is timing chain failure. I then bought a timing tool set for the engine and decided to see if it had stretched and when I locked the crank in place I noticed the cams were sitting a few degrees off from where they were meant to be sitting, so i timed it and put it all back together and she ran amazingly like a new car almost, but in the back of my mind it bothered me that the car had got like this, but I didn’t have the spare money and the fact that changing the timing chain was a big undertaking.
But over a month ago my wife was driving home when the car lost all power and died, I knew at that point that the timing chain was to blame. So when pulling it all apart this time to change the chain i noticed it had developed a serious amount of play, I’d checked the cylinders with a bore scope for signs of bent valves but thank goodness it was fine. Yesterday I’d finally put it all back together and noticed how tight the new chain is compared to the old one.
But she fired up after 3 tries coughed a little then settled down ran smoothly. I took her to work today and it feels like a transformed car, no flat spot under 2k rpm and it pulls hard with tons of torque that it never had before.
I’m pleased with the result and i saved my wife’s car.

Good job doing all that yourself. How hard would you say it was?

For my first time changing a timing chain it was easier than I expected, I’ve changed timing belts before. But I’d say it make sure you have a whole weekend and all the tools before starting, I was delayed by not having the correct tools to lock the crank so I could torque the crank bolt off. I’d say it’s a 8 out of 10 for difficulty because it’s time intensive. The n45 engine is easier to fix than the n43 because the timing chain is on the front and not the rear so i didn’t need to remove the engine.