LittleRed
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2018
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 13
- Points
- 3
- Age
- 55
- Location
- Paradise Point
- Members Ride
- VE Commodore Omega
I have 2008 Omega which has been making all sorts of awful noises when starting from cold. I have done quite a lot of reading in here and decided that there was a good chance that there was sludge in the engine. I decided to pop the rocker covers off and have a look, and also drop the sump and give it a clean out. What I found was pretty scary. I have never seen anything like this. I cleaned the sump, which wasn't too bad. The pickup was all but blocked though, so that got extra attention. The rockers were a bit more of a challenge. I literally scraped most of it off with a plastic trim tool. Very time consuming and frustrating. I managed to get most of it off, but it still looks pretty bad. I will have to let an engine flush finish it off.
Anyway, I thought that I would be able to avoid taking the timing chain cover off if I could just flush the sludge down through the opening and out the bottom, since the sump was already removed. I was wrong.
It seems that there was no tension on the left timing chain, as if the tensioner was stuck. So off came the cover.
Holy cow, what a mess.
As suspected, the tensioner was completely stuck. It would only move after urging it with a screw driver. So, looks like I am going to have to clean and disassemble if it's ever going to be right. What a pain.
Couple of questions though:
1. if I decide to replace the timing chains, should I bother with Holden or should I just go after-market or eBay?
2. Will I have any issues with disassembling the timing chain mechanisms for cleaning and re-assembling them?
3. What sealant is best for reassembly of the cover and sump? I heard Permatex grey, but I'm not sure.
Anyway, I thought that I would be able to avoid taking the timing chain cover off if I could just flush the sludge down through the opening and out the bottom, since the sump was already removed. I was wrong.
It seems that there was no tension on the left timing chain, as if the tensioner was stuck. So off came the cover.
Holy cow, what a mess.
As suspected, the tensioner was completely stuck. It would only move after urging it with a screw driver. So, looks like I am going to have to clean and disassemble if it's ever going to be right. What a pain.
Couple of questions though:
1. if I decide to replace the timing chains, should I bother with Holden or should I just go after-market or eBay?
2. Will I have any issues with disassembling the timing chain mechanisms for cleaning and re-assembling them?
3. What sealant is best for reassembly of the cover and sump? I heard Permatex grey, but I'm not sure.
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