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A slight aside, but from what year of car did they change the tensioner to one that doesn’t wear out?
1.6 diesel engine rattle noise at start fix DIY
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I don't recall anyone saying the modified ones don't wear out lol
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thanks for the tips guys, same things happening to me now 66, plate astra 1.6 diesel, now and again get the rattle, last 2 services not at main dealer, will take it to him though as he's trustworthy, not like the main dealers, rip off merchants
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Update, mines stopped rattling, so not bothered to take it in
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Mine has been doing the "1-2 second, startup rattle" for the last 3 years, it does not seem to get better, it does not seem to get worse, and i am not going to sink £2000+ into getting it fixed unless the situation gets worse. Partly because i am thinking about replacing it in the next year or 2 and i have not actually been driving as many miles as i though when i bought it, so it is still below 60.000 miles (Covid is the cause of that), and partly because i have read about someone that had the full repair (New chain, new chain guide, new cogwheels, and new tensioner) and the rattle returned shortly after, so it does not seem like, even what they do now is going to be a complete fix, more of a "Extend the time before something goes boom"
Partly because of this, and partly because Vauxhall is now owned by the French, i have also decided to not buy vauxhall next time, i am pretty fed up with sub-standard parts and ever rising costs of maintenance for every "new" vauxhall i have had.
The astra, besides having the "rattle-Diesel" also after about 3 years had to have new front suspension boots because the old ones was completely shredded, which i find pretty poor, and that was also expensive, because they had to take both front struts off to change the boots.
My previous car had a first gen M32 gearbox, that needed rebuilding every 60.000 miles, at a cost of about £1000, and i had to pay to have the boot fixed, as they had done some bad job with the zinc coating, making the paint bubble, my Corsa D 1.0 is on it's third chain in about 50.000 miles, and i had to replace the ignition coil assy, because it was sub-par, another factory defect, that affected a lot of people.
Newer once has Vauxhall paid ANYTHING towards any of the problems i mention even though every single one of these are down to poor manufacturing.
Pretty fed up with them to be honest, and them going French, has from what i have heard, only made them even worse with regards to warranty and out of warranty repairs.
Other manufacturers now offer 5-7 year warranties, that would certainly have covered all of the problems i have encountered, so not going to bother with their measly 2 year warranty. (It's only 2 years in my country).
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The Important part is tensioner gasket, because keep oil pressure.
In my country official dealer hadn't heard of tensioner gasket or maybe they know about it, but just they don't want to mount.
In my country official dealer hadn't heard of tensioner gasket or maybe they know about it, but just they don't want to mount.
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started again today, intermittent
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2,379 Posts
Yeah and here the vauxhall dealer even told me that they could change that without me having to pay for the gasket or repair.
BUT...There was a caveat...For them to be allowed to do this, they would have to do a full inspection of whether other parts had gone bad...Such as chain guides having the moulded on plastic being stripped.
They were only allowed to add that gasket for free, if this was the only problem. If there were other damage, i would have to pay out of my own pocket for the complete fix with chain, guides and whatnot and if i did not want to do that, they would only add the gasket at my own cost...And if i refused any of that, i would be charged for some hours of diagnosis.
I do not trust them enough, and i would bet that they would find damage that i would either have to pay for or have to pay for the diagnosis and possible addition of that gasket.
Either way, i was not going to have them look at the car, and essentially decide themselves how much money they would want me to pay.
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I paid for repair and change all other parts . My car have not warranty and will be no good to change only tensioner with gasket , because will pay for labor, half part of total sum for repair.
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From what i was told, what happens when the car rattles is this.
On the chain guides is some plastic moulded onto the metal, this reduces the friction between the chain and the chain guides.
When the engine is cold, the tensioner is not keeping the chain tight, so the first second or 2, the chain can flex a bit. This means the chain is not just "gliding" on the chain guides, but actually slapping them.
When the chain guides are slapped, the plastic breaks off, so that the chain is able to ride on the bare metal.
When they change the chain tensioner, it will only resolve the "tensioner is not keeping the chain tight at startup" but if the chain guides already have the plastic come off, then the chain will still ride on the bare metal.
Essentially....If there is startup rattle, there will be chain guide damage, and then the new tensioner and gasket will not really solve the problem, which is that in time, the chain and guide ville wear out to a point, where they will fail.
On the chain guides is some plastic moulded onto the metal, this reduces the friction between the chain and the chain guides.
When the engine is cold, the tensioner is not keeping the chain tight, so the first second or 2, the chain can flex a bit. This means the chain is not just "gliding" on the chain guides, but actually slapping them.
When the chain guides are slapped, the plastic breaks off, so that the chain is able to ride on the bare metal.
When they change the chain tensioner, it will only resolve the "tensioner is not keeping the chain tight at startup" but if the chain guides already have the plastic come off, then the chain will still ride on the bare metal.
Essentially....If there is startup rattle, there will be chain guide damage, and then the new tensioner and gasket will not really solve the problem, which is that in time, the chain and guide ville wear out to a point, where they will fail.
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Just poor lazy cheaply cost engineering which is a shame as the 1.6 whisper quiet engine is a peach , it pulled our Zafira tourer along at some speed. Our engine never rattled despite being abused by various drivers on our fleet , sadly it got towed away when the gearbox got locked in first gear & car stopped dead. It had 66,000 miles recorded on a 15 plate but the company wasn’t going to spend anymore money on it as it was deemed not to be worth repairing.
Is not like this. You are on the right track but this is how it is: the rattle at start is because in time the plastic guides first they getting shaved off a bit from the top. Not enough to brake or damage them but enough for the chain to have room to vibrate. SO at this point the gasket is fitted to make sure that the chain will stay on the guides and not vibrate on them and shaving more to get them to the point of braking.
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I agree, this is also what they told me.
But still, was not going to go there and basically give them a blank check to write, based on what they thought i should have done and have to pay for.
Also, it was around that time i read of someone that had a full rebuild done, including the gasket, and his car had just started rattling again.
Not going to pay £2000+ to "not fix" the problem
If the car started to rattle again after a full chain kit replacement is only one culprit. The oil pump chain. Usually when the timing chain has problems the oil one needs also to be changed as the fault of the timing one will affect the oil one but in a smaller way. So the oil chain is weak but not enough to rattle , and if is not changed with the timing chain will start to rattle once will be loose enough. So is a must both chains needs replacing also all gears. That is why cost about £2000 on main dealer
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Hi I'm planning on doing the gasket and tensioner mod too, would you be so kind and please send me the repair instructions too ? Thanks
send me a private message and will help you
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So after 2 weeks since doing the tensioner and gasket mod and cleaning the MAP sensor the engine runs and sounds much better and no more start up rattle, even from cold. It's a tricky job and alot of it by feel as you can't really see behind the Egr valve but it's a do-able job and worthwhile. The small steel pipe from the egr to inlet manifold was full of oily gunge and so will the inlet manifold I imagine but I'm not taking that off !!
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