jspearin

Today I pulled my 1984 3.2 Carrera out of winter storage (stored for ~4 months) and I noticed right away that there was a loud tapping/clicking sound coming from the right side of the engine. The car was running great when I put her away with no sounds like this. After reading a bit about this my guess is the pressure fed timing chain tensioner has lost pressure. If that is the case, my question is should I continue to let the engine run and warm up in hopes that the tensioner builds pressure again or is that a lost cause and am I looking for a new tensioner at this point? Also, how bad is it to run/drive if the tensioner has collapsed?

Mark Salvetti

No to both. I'm pretty sure if your tensioner has collapsed, the oil pressure isn't going to eventually bring it back. Something has failed internally.

And you definitely don't want to drive it. You'll likely skip some teeth on the sprocket and bend some valves.

Mark

Tinkerer

I’d try a can of sea foam first

Mark Salvetti

This thread includes a link to a YouTube video of a running engine with a failed tensioner. If this is what yours sounds like, stop now and fix it.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...eo-inside.html

This is a DIY job, just replace the failed unit. You'll need to remove the muffler to get good access, and the AC compressor.

Mark

theiceman

agreed, dont be running seafoam to fix this ...
its a relaxed weekend fix. take off muffler, tinwork timing cover... even just to inspect all you really need is a couple of muffler and a timing cover gasket. and maybe a few muffler bolts that break off... its cathardic work with your car.

TheTorch

Do not remove the chain or the camshaft sprockets -- keep the chain tension with a clamp or zip tie. Otherwise you are looking at retiming your cams, which is a lot more involved than fixing your tensioner.

jspearin

Thanks for the link. This sounds exactly like what is going on for me though I don't need to rev the engine to hear it. It makes that sound just at idle. I'll pop the timing cover off and see what is going on.

theiceman

i think when you pop the cover you will see immediately the issue. get a new tensioner.. pump it in a vat of oil to get her primed .. fire it in ..

jspearin

Update: Many times threads like this don't ever get the resolution posted so I thought I would give an update in case it helps someone else down the road. I ended up listening more closely to the engine with a mechanic's stethoscope and determined it probably wasn't the timing chain tensioner. After conferring with a more experience Porsche mechanic we determined it sounded more like it was coming from the valvetrain. Upon inspection we found that the adjustment nut from one of the valve adjusters had backed off and was sitting in the lower valve cover. Resolving this and checking all of the other adjusters ended up resolving the issue. Not sure how a valve adjuster nut would back off while the car was stored for 4 months but I can only assume it was very loose already. Thanks everyone for the comments and help though.

theiceman

wow great feedback ....

i had a similar experience a few years ago , could hear a constant metallic taping in one side of the engine. Investigation found a head not and broken off stud lying in the lower valve cover.