MY06 3.0L R-B TIMING CHAIN ISSUES

[Tradewind]

Mines coming up 150 000km and half the time its barely possible to tell the motor is even running from inside the car and extremely quiet outside as well.

[jay.ritchie]

Can't tell if in a hurry or angry

agreed.
Yeah what an annoying/ expensive issue.
It's not uncommon for the tensioner to go. The chain itself will last forever though. (as long as it doesn't go slack and snap).

hey jay!
you know how u sent me a PM in relation to the engine rattle noise!
i just saw this vid and the noise that it makes is not like that at all.!
alot quiter and only hear when RPM is 1500 - 2000

is the problem you had with your car the same in the vid?

http://youtu.be/ljDu20CimHY

Strange. Yeah that's my car in the vid and the noise is a really close representation.
If you think about a chain rattling- it's basically that haha

[yardman]

Mine has a distinct tick for the first 30 seconds from cold. I assume the tick is a consequence of initial oil circulation and warming up.

I did used to suffer significant chain rattle between 2000 - 2500 rpm, which sounded like a skeleton dancing in a biscuit tin. But, that's been resolved by reverting back to the stock tune.

[KiDo_Tuning]

EZ30_Small.jpg (171.83 KiB) Viewed 3576 times

You can see the drivers side bank on Left and passenger side on Right side of picture

On the right side, you will notice the when the big black crank pulley rotates clockwise the back chain is pulled up from the bottom so the bottom gear spins clockwise, the water pump, passenger exhaust cam, variable intake cam(oil pressure activated) then right next to it is the passenger side hydrualic tensioner, then a guide gear and then back to the crankshaft pulley.

The drivers side bank however has the bottom gear spinning clockwise so the front chain spins clockwise and puts tension first on the drivers variable inlet cam gear, followed by the exhaust cam and then onto the bottom hydraulic tensioner which gets oil pressure nearly straight off the oil filter before the chains goes back to the bottom gear.

Notice the drivers side has the tensioner and cam gear seperated by quite a difference? The passenger side though has the tensioner and AVCS gear right next to each other.
The passenger side AVCS is 'after' the exhaust cam while the drivers side AVCS is closer to the crankshaft(count the chain links )
You will also notice that the two tensioner bars have different designs, the bottom one has 9 links of chain between the black pivot point and tensioner while the passenger side has 4 links. Physics tells us that the passenger side chain tensioner would need to exert more force on the chain to get the leverage needed to keep the same tension as the bottom tensioner.

This is why the passenger side tensioner is so prone to issues! It has a lack of consistent oil pressure due to its AVCS cam solenoid neighbour, it has to exert the most amount of force to account for its small leverage distance and also has to deal with the most amount of mechanical drive(water pump) so it IS the hardest working component in the 3L H6's engines!

[jay.ritchie]

you could almost say that its poorly designed. Surely they knew it would be/ is a weak point and they could've toughened it up a bit!
What are the chances of the passenger side tensioner busting after its already be replaced?

[Out6ack]

Excellent walk through Matt.
Is there any modifications that can be done to the passenger side tensioner (during a build or otherwise) such as a stronger spring etc to prevent premature failure?

[BATMAN87]

"This is why the passenger side tensioner is so prone to issues! It has a lack of consistent oil pressure"

I'm just thinking...

If I run a thicker oil ( currently Castrol edge 5w-30 ), say 10w will the velocity of the thicker oil help hold oil pressure more constant / better than the thin oil?

[KiDo_Tuning]

"This is why the passenger side tensioner is so prone to issues! It has a lack of consistent oil pressure"

I'm just thinking...

If I run a thicker oil ( currently Castrol edge 5w-30 ), say 10w will the velocity of the thicker oil help hold oil pressure more constant / better than the thin oil?

10w-40 would assist

Excellent walk through Matt.
Is there any modifications that can be done to the passenger side tensioner (during a build or otherwise) such as a stronger spring etc to prevent premature failure?

Subaru have an updated part I believe