Timing belt or chain?

Yep, chain and when it gets noisy. Normally when the engine is pretty worn out too.

 

Hello,

I know that the chain itself will probably never break; however, does anyone know about the chain tensioner? My Saturn had a timing chain, it didn't break, but the chain tensioner wore out and crack/broke, which destroyed the top part of the engine. Any thoughts?

 

Let me think... GM Saturn or Toyota Prius? I bet you're glad you're not driving the Saturn.

 

Hey buddy,

I know that a Saturn is not made better than a Prius;however, I don't think the chain tensioner can be warrant for the life of the car--which means how many miles? BTW, the Saturn was a good car; it didn't break until 100k with autobahn driving--this was when I was stationed in Germany. So, we got to give credit to the Saturn for that. Again, anyone with a good estimate on when to check these parts, like how many miles? I might do mines when I hit 200k. Any thoughts?

 

i can't recall 1 post where someone had to change the timing chain.. not even on the 250k+mile taxis...

 

we had the *exact same thing* happen to DH's 94 SL1 at about 140k. smashed up the head pretty bad too... but the story of that mess is far longer than a smashed head.

anyway, that's not so much the tensioner as the chain guide that the tensioner pushes against the timing chain. it's made of plastic, and in our saturn, the chain ate through the plastic. end of engine.

first things first, the prius chain tensioner is nothing like that. it should probably last the life of the timing chain. if you're in there anyway replacing a vcg around 200k miles, you can check on everything and replace if need be. around 200k you should be needing a crank seal and stuff too so it may be a good time to stick your head in there and just do a bunch of the inside-engine stuff.

 

Both my Prius and FJ use a chain. With appropriate care and the use of a high quality oil - I'm biased to synthetics for obvious reasons - the chain and tensioner *should* last the life of the motor

 

I am so glad to hear the prius motor has a chian. My 1992 toyota truck has a chain and its lasted rather well you can go here and read more about it :

Toyoland Featured Fan

 

Like was posted you're usually good until they start slapping around. You'll typically hear it at startup and shutdown slapping if it's very warn or the tensioner is worn. I too am happy it's a chain. It makes for a bit more engine noise but a belt breaking is a very very bad thing (think valves making contact with pistons).

Of course the above is from experience with other cars and not the Prius... but a timing chain is a timing chain.

With regards to the post about losing the tensioner and (I'll assume) causing the chain to hop a few sprockets this must have been pretty bad luck. There isn't usually this much play and losing a tensioner (which is pretty common because most are plastic) is pretty common but usually just result in the slap I talked about. In fact I had a '91 Nissan truck that had some timing chain slap because of the tensioner. I replaced it and the timing chain (myself) just to have the darn plastic tensioner decide to break (again) about 6 months later. :mmph:

Mike

 

yes, but only when you're talking about interference timed engines.

fortunately, toyota makes a better tensioner than gm...

 

Actually, many engines are not "interference engines;" on those, the valves will not contact the pistons when the belt breaks.

 

I doubt the chain in the Prius will have a problem within any normal lifespan of the car. However I must change the extreme duty chain in my Camaro every two years due to it stretching...

 

Our marine diesel uses gears for timing, as opposed to chains or belts. I like that. On the other hand it weighs 500 pounds for 10 horsepower, so it probably wouldn't make a good motorcycle or airplane engine.

Tom

 

I despise blue laws, and I don't even drink that much.

Tom

Edit: The database seems a bit knackered at the moment. This reply ended up in the timing chain thread, which is miles from the original one. I think I'll stop posting tonight until it sorts itself out.

 

Tom

It's also probably built like a brick s***house too, so with reasonable care will outlive you or me

jay

 

Tom

You *could* try heavy drinking - it works for me!

jay

 

i wondered about this today as i was waxing my car.

as always, thanks for this info, timing chains are the way to go. makes me love my prius a bit more!!!!!

yeahh!

 

Is there any procedure for checking the timing chain?