Hunting for Damage - 09/15/2021

Tonight the valve covers + upper timing covers came off so I got my first chance to look the guides over for damage. While I did find some bits of the plastic guides that had obviously been chewed up by the metal portions of the timing system, most of the guides were still in-tact. Broken in multiple places, but hanging on to their mounts. I did find that the passenger side (tensioner side) upper timing cover had some grooves cut into it from the timing chain. Slight chain slack on cold startups and the slack caused by failing timing chain guides eventually takes a little bite of the upper timing covers. Well inside the norms for the engine @ this age.

Overall, I'm very happy I parked the car when I did because the guide damage was very minor compared to other examples I've seen.

• Removed Valve Covers
  
• Removed Spark Plugs
  
• Removed Chain Tensioner
  
• Removed camshaft sensors
  
• Removed upper timing covers