Customer complaint: the car stopped while driving. Engine died completely, although there was power.
Diagnose: broken timing chain.
Solution: replace timing chain, clean all the sludge.
Work done: After removing the valve cover, we noticed a huge amount of sludge. We assume that the previous owner used low grade oil and change it seldom…As you can see in the pictures, it was a lot! Always use the best oil you can afford and a good filter and do the oil change regularly in order to avoid this.
We also noticed that the valve train was not moving. Although the customer stated that the timing chain was replaced a year ago, we were sure it was broken. After cleaning the engine, a new timing chain was installed and the plastic part from the tensioner was trimmed in order to obtain a bigger clearance between the tensioner and the crankshaft sprocket.

[Show as slideshow]

The engine was full of sludge.

Here is a close-up of what's inside the engine.

The broken timing chain was removed.

Here is an other view of the broken chain.

This used to be part of the chain tensioner.

We scooped out some "yummy" sludge...

The rocker arms were also extremely dirty.

Here is one cleaned-up already.

The valve cover was also full of sludge.

After 5 hours of cleaning and about 6 cans of B12, this is how it looked like.

The valve cover cleaned-up.

Another view of the clean engine. The valve lifters were not tight yet.

Another view of the clean engine.

A view from the bottom of the engine. It doesn't look too bad.

The oil pick up strainer was clean. There were some deposits on the pipe, which were removed later on.

The oil pan had to be removed and cleaned up from all the broken parts from the timing chain tensioner, as well as from sludge.

The timing chain tensioner was installed. Look at the plastic part in the right side. It had to be shaved in the lower part in order to have enough clearance.

The new chain was installed and the plastic part from the tensioner was shaved off, in order to obtain a 2-3 millimeters clearance from the crankshaft sprocket.

Here is the culprit: the timing chain tensioner was extremely close to the crankshaft sprocket (maybe a design flaw???) and the tooth that touched it broke off, leading to the chaos inside. This is the second chain that breaks in this car.

Everything was put back together.

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