rollingthunder1994 Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Hi Again Guys, New question, At what milage should i change the timing chains. I was reading in the Haynes repair manuel, that if they break you can kiss your motor goodbye. My seville has 104,610 miles on it. I know the origional owner of the car. It has been serviced by cadillac since day one, but the chains have never been replaced. The car has never been raced or abused, it starts up as soon as the key is turned and there is no vibration or hesitation during idle or acceleration even though it's in the fail safe mode of 2nd gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiden_kai Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 The Northstar timing chain setup appears to be almost bulletproof. I would not worry about them. I've pulled apart a number of "high milers" and there is never any appreciable wear on the chains, guides, sprockets, in fact....hardly any wear on anything in the engine. You pretty much have to really be abusive to these engines in order to have any kind of major mechanical failure. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 I once heard our expert(bill) saying that the timing chain lasts several lifes of the car.So, you don't need to wory about that. It's actually one of the advantages of the Northstar engine since replacing a timing belt on a comparable Japanese car can be expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 A chain drive was harder to engineer and is always a challenge to make run quietly... My Nissan truck has a chain, but the tensioners and guides are known to be problematic. Noise on startup, etc. Folks are always fixing them or trying to quiet them. I love my Cadillac. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 My 94 sts has 206,000 miles on it so far and the engine runs smooth. A GM engineer was contacted a few years back in reference to the life of the timing chain. His reply more or less was "Is it still running?" (yes) "Is there a problem with it?" (no) "Then leave it alone." I just received a new fill tube, brackets, and hosing so hopefully i'll have the chronic gas smell and squeaky bushing just below the fill tube fixed. Question for anyone who reads this: I have a creaking sound coming from the left upper strut mount on when I initiate very slow hard left turns. I replaced the entire upper mount including the rubber bushing. Creaking was gone for one day then came back the second day. Not as bad as Before but definitely noticeable. Any ideas welcomed. "Burns" rubber " I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justgreat Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 fwiw, having a timing chain versus a timing belt doesn't mean it won't have to be changed. granted, this is going back in time somewhat, but the alfa romeo had a double row timing chain AND it still needed tobe changed at 60k even with 5k adjustments. the engine had hemi heads so the distance between the cams was enormous compared to current day ohc engines (pentroof)...that chain must have been five feet long. jackg 90seville 94k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 fwiw, having a timing chain versus a timing belt doesn't mean it won't have to be changed. True...plus all the OHV domestic V8s from the '80s tended to use nylon gears or nylon-coated gears, which would wear down pretty good after so many miles and years and the chain ended up getting very sloppy (no tensioner, just a chain between the crank and the camshaft). Replacements after 100k miles weren't uncommon. I think the Northstar is really great -- ratcheting tensioners so you NEVER go out of tension -- and a chain that's apparently made very well that doesn't stretch much anyway. Another chain drive that appears to be very good is that in Ford's modular V8s. We had a '92 Crown Vic with the 4.6 and it was an excellent engine -- never any engine trouble at all out of that thing. The only thing we ever did to that thing under the hood was a new set of spark plug wires after 80k miles. I don't know how many chains that design has -- I think just two -- one for each of the heads run directly from the crank. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 fwiw, having a timing chain versus a timing belt doesn't mean it won't have to be changed. True...plus all the OHV domestic V8s from the '80s tended to use nylon gears or nylon-coated gears, which would wear down pretty good after so many miles and years and the chain ended up getting very sloppy (no tensioner, just a chain between the crank and the camshaft). Replacements after 100k miles weren't uncommon. I think the Northstar is really great -- ratcheting tensioners so you NEVER go out of tension -- and a chain that's apparently made very well that doesn't stretch much anyway. Another chain drive that appears to be very good is that in Ford's modular V8s. We had a '92 Crown Vic with the 4.6 and it was an excellent engine -- never any engine trouble at all out of that thing. The only thing we ever did to that thing under the hood was a new set of spark plug wires after 80k miles. I don't know how many chains that design has -- I think just two -- one for each of the heads run directly from the crank. Jason, I know that the 3800 V-6 from the mid to late 80s had nylon overmolded timing gears but didn't think the V8s had them. I see a lot of Crown Vics/Mercury Marquis in west Michigan and quite a few of them puff a lot of blue smoke when accelerating from a red light. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Replacing a timing belt was NOT something that we figured Cadillac owners would want to do every 75K.... THANK YOU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 I see a lot of Crown Vics/Mercury Marquis in west Michigan and quite a few of them puff a lot of blue smoke when accelerating from a red light. Valve seals. Classic problem with the earlier 4.6L V8s. After about 100,000 miles, our '92 started that syndrome as well. It was supposedly addressed by the factory in the mid-1990s, but I don't know exactly when. I don't recall seeing any of the newer Crown Vics doing it in my area -- just the older ones...especially the ones on taxi duty. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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