E30 Zone

ok i'm gonna chip my IS soon and a couple of other tidy mods to add aswell
1st is how do you adjust the tension on the chain,,,,,
2nd, how hard is a change over?????
are there any links out there to show/tell me how to do it???
anyone,,,,

anyone help??????????

Nothing particularly difficult about this. Similar in many ways to changing the belt on a M40 or M20, apart from a few more gaskets involved, and two cams to keep lined up.
Check the sprockets and guides for wear and replace as necessary, (or as finances allow!.)
The tensioner is the first thing to remove, and the last to fit. It just screws into the side of the engine, and the replacement item will be an improved E36 type.
Haynes manual 3210 would be a good investment.

I've had a couple of 318iS's and I heard that you don't need to change the chain. Just change the tensioner which is a ten minute job. Like Brian said, the new one (from a dealer) will be an uprated E36 item.

There are some small guides to refitting this here...

Timing chain:

http://www.esatclear.ie/~bpurcell/318istimingchain.html

Timing chain tensioner:

http://www.esatclear.ie/~bpurcell/318is ... ntensioner

Hope this helps fella!

Giles

thanks to both of you...i'll get it sorted ,,,sounds like the tensioner to me as only makes a noise when it's hot or booted hard,,,,but then if left a few minutes it's gone away,,,i new this [hoped] it wouldn't be an expensive mission
as it goes away,,,it never does it when i'm pootleing about town,,,,but does it on m/way after a bit at only 60mph...
the IS site is brill it should stop me asking daft q's for a while but if i get stuck i know who to ask,,,cheers again

Do you have the rattle between 3000rpm and 4000?

I changed the tensioner on its own, didnt change a thing. Changed the chain, bottom sprocket, 2 guides and another new tensioner.

Lasted 2 weeks, rattle came back lol

marcp1987 wrote:Do you have the rattle between 3000rpm and 4000?

I changed the tensioner on its own, didnt change a thing. Changed the chain, bottom sprocket, 2 guides and another new tensioner.

Lasted 2 weeks, rattle came back lol

Mine rattles here, changed the tensioner and it helped a little bit, but it's getting to the 150,000 point so a change might be in order. Not cheap though, buying an E36 M42 might be cheaper

/\ Its what you need. My later m42 is fairly quiet*

*That will be the que for it to start rattling tomorrow.

Mines done 180k.... Just wondering if different grade oil will help it or something.

I changed the chain , sprockets , guides and fitted the later tensioner on my m42 and it still rattles a bit at 3000rpm on light throttle . i thought they all did

mine ticks sort of sound like a sticky tappet if i boot it or any motorway stuff,,,after it's warm,,,
i can turn it off for about 5 mins and it's GONE??????????i've done new oil& flush semi synth...?????????

how often are you suppose to change them, mine had a new one along with a full top end rebuild in 1999 @ 70K am i rite in thinking if and when it gets to 170k it will need doing again to avoid it snapping (every 100k)

sorry for thread hijack

magpie yours could be the exhaust manifold leaking as that can make noise then shut up when warm

sounds more top end,,,from cold there is rattle at firs till oil gets about then all is good till she's warmed up and one boot up to 5k and noise,park her up for a smoke etc,,,5-7 mins start her up SWEET again??????

I'll try take a video, its only at 3000rpm to 4000, under throttle its fine, its terrible when coming back down the gears though under no throttle, sounds like rattling ehxuast baffles, but it really isnt!

Are they all just a bit noisey then?

marcp1987 i think so i have had 3 and they have all done it . magpie i dont know about yours then have you thought about the hyd lifters

No point just changing the chain, you must change all the sprockets as well - this is how worn my 107k ones were;


Left is new, right is the old one - check how sharp the sprockets are.

If you put a new chain on without changing the sprockets - and they are warn like this, the chain is far more likely to jump.

Changing everything on mine- and getting the timing right quitened it down a lot.

Gwynleym10 wrote:No point just changing the chain, you must change all the sprockets as well - this is how worn my 107k ones were;


Left is new, right is the old one - check how sharp the sprockets are.

If you put a new chain on without changing the sprockets - and they are warn like this, the chain is far more likely to jump.

Changing everything on mine- and getting the timing right quitened it down a lot.

how do i inspect the sprocket's

just replace them them when you change the chain , best to replace the guides too . when i did it i think all the parts where £250 ish

monkey wrote:just replace them them when you change the chain , best to replace the guides too . when i did it i think all the parts where £250 ish

Ouch thats a little pricey! I should do mine soon

monkey wrote:just replace them them when you change the chain , best to replace the guides too . when i did it i think all the parts where £250 ish

are these bmw parts or euro car parts???

Hi

I got the whole thing changed as rattling in same way you described, Magpie. Expensive as it was done by independent garage but reckoned it would be cheaper than a catastrophic failure, and by all accounts, it was not far off as noise had significantly increased. My mileage is relatively low compared to numbers mentioned above at 79,000 but like yours, had periods of not being used.
However, the improvement to the car was well worth every last hard earned pound.

yep i'll back that up you need to change all sprokets and guides to quieten one down

You can inspect the sprockets by taking off the valve cover and the top timing cover.

I would get parts from BMW - its something you don't want bad parts for. All my parts were around £400 from cotswold BMW

i wouldn't realy say euro car parts are bad parts,,,,i know all say use bmw bits but this option isn't cheap,,
i haven't got it down as chain etc yet?i may just go with checking the sprockets 1st if good i'll do the tensioner
as said at the top of thread,,and see how we go??i had an escort that did this when you boot it,,,,it turned out to be a sticky tappet?????mine only does the noise when she's up to temp and i give the pedal a boot in 2nd or 3rd to 5k
then i get ticking,,,,if i stop and turn it off for 5 it goes away and if i just drive miss daisy it doesn't do it.
the tappets on a cvh escort were a lot easier than these though...

£400 you say i will have to find my invoice but i am sure i didn't pay that much for all my parts and i did use bmw parts i thought i payed about £250 ish i will check when i gwt home

magpie found the parts prices . chain tensioner £27.25 . timing chain £48.82 . cam sprocket 2 of at £39.21 a pair . crank sprocket £23.77 . guide rail £33.78 . guide rail £21.97 all +vat. there was also some gaskets needed so allow for them aswell . i did the job in jan 06 and those prices are with a small amount of discount .

looks like £250 ish then,,,i'm gonna have it checked by a couple of places to see what they come up with.it could be a sticky tappet yet.... but whatever it is will be fixed,,,no matter what

I thought the parts including the cam sprockets was well over 300 quid, which is why I couldnt manage the cam sprokets when I did the chain, they didnt look too bad either.

Might just leave it, its noisey but with a new chain it should last some time... shouldnt it?

but noise though

I'd buy a decent stereo lol,

I know noises can be annoying, but imho 250 quid is alot to spend to cure a noise that only happens some of the time. Also if it does fail, isn't the m42 non-interference so it doesn't really matter if it breaks.

But hey I guess it depends on your budget, I'm still in stingy student mode for my rally project.

Those sprockets too - I'm a bit confused as to how the right one can cause the chain to jump, surely that's a fault in the spacing in the chain itself, not the sprocket, as the sprocket teeth are still going to be evenly spaced even if they get worn into a sharp point - its still going to pick up the location in the chain.

hi m8 i just sold the m40 18i to electric blonde[rich] he says your a good driver at road rally,
good luck with the m42 conversion

The sprockets have worn because the chain has stretched - they have basically worn around the chain.

If you stick a new chain on without chaining the sprockets the chain won't fit into the sprockets at all - thus making it more likely to jump than if you just left it! #it may not though

If you know anything about bikes you will know that if you but a new chain on old gears it won't change gear properly..

monkey wrote:magpie found the parts prices . chain tensioner £27.25 . timing chain £48.82 . cam sprocket 2 of at £39.21 a pair . crank sprocket £23.77 . guide rail £33.78 . guide rail £21.97 all +vat. there was also some gaskets needed so allow for them aswell . i did the job in jan 06 and those prices are with a small amount of discount .

That is a fair bit cheaper than what Cotswolds have quoted in the Genuine Parts section on here! Do a search and you'll see.

mt1104 - It's not simply aboout the noise. Personally I could put up with most noises if I knew they were normal. A rattly timing chain is a sign that it needs changing. If it rattled when it was healthy I don't think it'd bother me!

magpie - You're going to the Xmas Zone meet aren't you? May be a good opportunity to have someone listen to your car and get a second opinion, I know that's what I'm planning/hoping to do with my iS as it's also rattling a bit (in my opinion at least!).