Dodged a big bullet today, thanks to the brilliant Mr. Luis and his boss Juli at Southard Tire and Auto Center. There's this thing called the timing chain tensioner. If it goes, the timing chain could come apart *while driving* and blow my engine. It...
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Dodged a big bullet today, thanks to the brilliant Mr. Luis and his boss Juli at Southard Tire and Auto Center. There's this thing called the timing chain tensioner. If it goes, the timing chain could come apart *while driving* and blow my engine. It had deep gouges in the metal; my timing chain did that. I've heard rough engine noise for a year or more, plus a weird clicking sound when I slowed to a stop; several mechanics have test driven it and not once mentioned the rough sound or that it could be serious.
This new-to-me mechanic, Mr. Luis, who is brilliant I know now, looked closer and zeroed in on this little part. At first he thought it might be the one on the lower timing chain, which would have cost $1200+. Then he had another thought: for the price of a $49 diagnosis, he could take off the valve cover (easy) and from there he could see both timing chains and tensioners/guides.
He found it was the top one that was going bad, not the bottom one, which cost closer to $400 (he said it was so bad I shouldn't drive it much at all till it was fixed). Had the part replaced today; purrs like a kitten now - and it might have fixed the clicking sound too.
When I brought the car in this morning I also brought donuts for Mr. Luis and the whole crew, and my loyalty for life (or for as long as I'm in Cloverdale, California)!