Well if its not one thing its another. I dropped my oil pan this morning to change the oil pan gasket. Everything went better than expected but that changed once I look in the bottom of the oil pan. Below are pictures of what I found. Whatever it is I think it broke down the center as the bigger pieces have a small lip on them. I am guessing it is the timing chain guide but I could be wrong. Has anyone else seen something like this in their oil pan? If it is the timing chain guide I am assuming it is a must have thus this may warrant pulling the engine out. Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Very well could be. Here are the old ones off mine. You could pull the valve cover and see down there I beleive.

Edited July 1, 201212 yr by siteunseen

Yep, looks like that is it. Doooh!

I don't think you have to pull the motor. The front cover is all (if that ain't enough).

Any idea if I can get away without the chain guide? The car is just a cruiser, not a racer. I am going to pull the valve cover off and see what kind of slack the chain has at this point.

Look at the tensioner. If it's showing a lot of the plunger shaft you probably need to get in there and replace parts.

UPDATE: I pulled the valve cover off today to take a look at the chain. It appears only on the left chain guide has experienced any damage as it looks like the front lip/edge has broken off. The chain has plenty of tension on the left side but has some slack on the right side, to the point that the right side is not touching its guide. I have also included a picture of the inside of the valve cover. Is this normal for where the chain is located?

My right side is tight against the guide but it's new stuff so that's expected. I know there is a slack side on timing chains, maybe you could find out but I imagine it's not the right side because the tensioner is on the left. I watch all the NCIS and CSI shows so I'll say your chain IS rubbing that valve cover on the right side too, where your guide is gone. IMHO I would fix that before I drove it. But I'm like that.

Edited July 8, 201212 yr by siteunseen

I also would not drive the car like that.

In your second picture it looks as though the guide has lost it's surface as well.

Bite the bullet and fix it.

I agree with the comment above.

It seems you don't have any rubbing material left on your guide. The tension in the chain might not be ok resulting in loose chain hitting sometimes the cover.

Since the crankshaft is turning in a clockwise motion, it is normal to have tight side on the right of the engine.

Another indication could be to check notches on cam sproket. You would immediately see if the chain is still operating properly. I bet it does not.

It also means your cam is not timed correctly anymore, you're most likely loosing power & torque.

It's an important job to change the chain but it is really doable.

You need to:

- lift the front of the car

- remove the hood but it is optional

- remove the alternator belt (the alternator also would help but it not necessary)

- flush the coolant

- remove the radiator

- remove the fan

- remove the distributor & the oil pump

- remove crankshaft pulley bolt (impact gun is best but you can have it with a large breaker bar)

- remove the crankshaft damper/pulley (you need an extractor for this but you can do it with a piece of wood and a mallet)

- remove all the bolts on the cover

- remove the water pump

- remove the cover

then you have access to all the parts you need to take care of, then you put everything back together with new parts & gaskets.

I would suggest in the process to inspect oil pump & water pump. Replace them if necessary.

It is a 2 days job for someone who hasn't done it before if you take you're time and do it carefully.

Edited July 10, 201212 yr by Lazeum

Thanks for the info guys. I am going to take your advice and replace the chain and the associated components. Would I be okay with a Beck Arnley chaing that the parts stores carry or I should I get a Nissan chain? I see other people talk about ITM timing components. Any thoughts on who to get the gaskets from? I have used Fel-Pro in the past on small block Chevys but this is my first real deep dive in to an L-series engine.

Beck Arnley is good. I've used FelPro and it's always worked for me.

Chuck