Ka24e Broken Chain Guide

[fujima]

I have 89 240sx with a Ka24e. At 160k miles, I think my chain guide broke today. I'm hearing pieces of crap bouncing around under the car while driving. Probably from the oil pan.

Can I keep driving with the broken guide floating in there? Or maybe just remove the pieces in the oil pan and keep driving with no chain guide?

[CaoBoY]

no.
what si going to happen, is you will get shitty gas mileage because your timing will be off. there is too much slack in your timing chain, and you could permanentaly damage the motor. time to change the guides/timing chain buddy, and clean out the oil pan/pickup. have fun!

[kandyflip445]

If you don't fix it your car will get to the point of not working at all. Do not drive it untill you have it fixed.

[nissanguy13]

Ya I wouldn't drive it. If it just happened you might be able to just replace the guides (as long as the chain wasnt damged.) Youre better off going down to your local auto parts store and just buy the whole kit with the chain, guides, etc. I think when I priced it they told me around $150 or $200.

Before you go buying any parts, pull off your valve cover and see if the top chain gaurd is still in tact (unless you have already removed it.) The guard might of just snapped off and dropped down into your engine. It's pretty common for 240s with that many miles. I thought I was going to have to replace my timing chain when I started hearing a sound coming from the front of my engine that sounded like the timing chain slapping against the valve cover. When I opened it up, the guard was laying on top of the chain and it was making it bounce up and down against the valve cover. If thats the problem just pull your oil pan off and fish out the pieces. (If any dropped down in your engine)

Good luck, sorry if its the timing chain.