# Bad rattle after replacing tensioners?!



## DrivenYFZ (Aug 1, 2014)

Hi, I recently had to replace the water pump in my 94 sentra ga16de and given the milage is 150,000 I decided to replace the tensioners and the lower timing chain guide on the left...the one the lower tensioner pushes on. So I tore apart the front of the motor, lower timing chain cover, oil pan came off as well as the lower center engine support and the top of the motor, the valve cover and the front cover on the head. The lower chain guide had significant wear and the upper tensioner had wore a hole through the rubber so the oil was just squirting on the chain instead of tensioning it but luckly hadnt gotten down to the metal yet. I had no chain noise prior to this was just being proactive. I got it all back together and now when I start it it rattles very bad for a couple seconds then quites down. Sometimes I can still hear it a little but when I give it gas it goes away totaly and sounds like it should. It's like its not getting adequate oil at start.

I took the upper head cover back off and checked the tensioner which appeared to be working fine. Then I took it off and inspected everything pretty good. The only thing I noticed is that the oil passage from the block did not line up very well with the oil passage on the tensioner. I checked the old one...assuming factory one... and it is the same but not quite as bad. I took a dremel and just streched the passage in the tensioner so it lines up better with the block passage and reinstalled everything. The tensioner moved freely after installed. I put the cover back on and tried it again. Same thing it sounds so bad when I first start it up.
Any help with this would be great...I am driving my datsun pickup in the mean time but have driven the car three days about 2 hours a day because my starter went out in my truck...when it rains it poors!!! 
Let me know any ideas you might have. Thanks ya'll


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Did you check the other chain tensioner? Were the oil feed holes for both tensioners clean?


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## DrivenYFZ (Aug 1, 2014)

Is the bottom tensioner oil pressure driven also? I was under the impression that it was simply spring loaded as I dont remember seeing any oil passages. I will look at my old one in a bit. Thanks


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## DrivenYFZ (Aug 1, 2014)

Ok I looked at the old one and found the oil passages. I will take it out and see what I can find.


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