I have a Felicia 1.3lxi, 2000 with 56k on the clock. I have no history of maintenance to timing chain. Is there an obvious rattle when it needs work doing on it ?

heres a thread that someone posted a bit ago , basically a how to , i don't know these engines but yes the chain goes slack/wears/stretches , HTH

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/general-car-chat/felicia-silenced/64826/?highlight=timing+chain

There is a rattle that develops when these chains need replaceing. On my old car the chain started rattling somewhere around the 100k mark and hadnt gone nearly 30k later. However the timing had started drifting a bit at times by then.

Chains are exceptionally long lived. A great many of these engines rattle on for a very very long time, and its rare you will ever hear of a chain actually snapping. Very different from the situation with cambelts which go regularly with no warning.

I thought the service schedule replacement interval for a timing chain was somewhere around 75,000 miles but thats purely from memory, which isnt very reliable I havent got a handbook sat around here at the moment :(. The haynes manual suggests 30,000 miles whether it needs it or not as a precaution. Unfortunately I havent got a hand book here. The dealer workshop manual I have here lists how to do the job but not when it should be done.

Theres a guy called skud up north on here who will remember better than me. But I personally would not be worried about a timing chain at 50k thats coming from having owned at least 12 cars powered by this engine, including one from new to 90,000 miles without ever having the timing chain replaced.

Regarding timing chains;

As far as I'm aware there is no scheduled replacement as such for a timing chain on any modern petrol or diesel engine. However as a precationary note it is wise to investigate any rattle (you will know when a timing chain is rattling!) because it may indicate some slackness in the chain and a replacement would be wise. Bear in mind replacing a timing chain is not an easy job and most owners do not bother and just live with a rattle. I find it hard to believe it will knock the timing out just because it is slack - that is very unusual.

Oh and by the way - Nissans are most known for timing chain failures and have been known to fail in low mileage motors.

they will rattel for ever. its not a huge prob. they wont brake.

yep agree with all others they will go for ever i have worked on them for the past 18 years and must have seen 1000;s of them a have never ever changed one due to breakage, as for putting the timming out it's more likley to be a worn distributor drive doing that. cheers K.

I find it hard to believe it will knock the timing out just because it is slack - that is very unusual.

The valve timing will drift a bit as the crank will turn a little before the drive is transmitted to the cam. The same principle is used on the cams of the 1.8 20V engine where an electronically controlled hydraulic tensioner is used to effectively lengthen and shorten the chain that connects the two camshafts thus producing the variable valve timing.

One not so obvious side effect of a worn timing chain on this engine as fitted to the Fabia was lack of performance. Not as a result of the timing been out, but the vibration was causing the knock sensor to go off, thus retarding the ignition timing.

Amongst the owners club crowd its been observed that a well worn chain will make timing flutter due to the slack. IVe known a few people who have repalced their chains to cure the problem and itworked without the dizzy being replaced. The dizzy's can wear though because not many people realise they should be lubricated regularly.

not many people realise they should be lubricated regularly.

thats what i would say.

I replaced mine on my Favorit. It took me a few hours as it was the first one I'd done. But after replacing it and tightening up the tappets it was virtually silent, just like a new car.

If you are bored one weekend and bit handy with the spanners, go for it. The kit is pretty cheap as well and going from rattly to near silent is very rewarding.

What needs to be done to the distributor cap to lubricate it? A bit of WD40? I take it that applies to the 1.6 as well?

No the 1.6 is different it being an over head cam engine, the distributor is on the end of the camshaft and driven directly.