Pulled the Mess that was my Timing Chain....
So I finally managed to get to the timing chain in my limited time to work on my Dart, and from what I saw was pretty bad. First off, when I got the cover off, a good amount of coolant began to pour right out from the timing cover. It happened when I loosened/pulled the bolt nearest to the water pump; normal or no?
When I got the cover off, I noticed the horrible slack on the chain. The teeth on the cam sprocket were curved and rounded off. But the bolt that held the sprocket to the cam was loose; as if someone didn't even bother tightening it. Lining the gears off and taking them off, I noticed the wear/gunk on the cam sprocket, and there was a pin hole (?) underneath that appeared void of these little pins that were around the timing chain area. I also circled something else near the cam sprocket; possible key notches for the sprocket?
The general fear is that there was a pin that was supposed to hold the cam sprocket down, but because of that and the loosened bolt, it wobbled all over the place and damaged itself and potentially caused even greater damage inside the block. Another opinion said there may have never been a pin there, and the loosened bolt caused the timing chain and sprockets to wear faster.
My car hasn't been running for two weeks now, and it's stuck in my school's auto shop, so I have limited time to work on it every day. I'm hoping to get some advice to those more experienced with doing the timing chain. Greatly appreciated.
Timing chain area with cam sprocket off (the crank sprocket is on still, I know). Circled around the cam area, with the odd mark and the suspected pinhole:
Below is the closeup of the cam area:
Here is the cam gear itself; you can kind of see the worn teeth. Weirdly enough, this thing doesn't look old at all either.
And crappy photo before I got the timing chain off:
So I finally managed to get to the timing chain in my limited time to work on my Dart, and from what I saw was pretty bad. First off, when I got the cover off, a good amount of coolant began to pour right out from the timing cover. It happened when I loosened/pulled the bolt nearest to the water pump; normal or no?
When I got the cover off, I noticed the horrible slack on the chain. The teeth on the cam sprocket were curved and rounded off. But the bolt that held the sprocket to the cam was loose; as if someone didn't even bother tightening it. Lining the gears off and taking them off, I noticed the wear/gunk on the cam sprocket, and there was a pin hole (?) underneath that appeared void of these little pins that were around the timing chain area. I also circled something else near the cam sprocket; possible key notches for the sprocket?
The general fear is that there was a pin that was supposed to hold the cam sprocket down, but because of that and the loosened bolt, it wobbled all over the place and damaged itself and potentially caused even greater damage inside the block. Another opinion said there may have never been a pin there, and the loosened bolt caused the timing chain and sprockets to wear faster.
My car hasn't been running for two weeks now, and it's stuck in my school's auto shop, so I have limited time to work on it every day. I'm hoping to get some advice to those more experienced with doing the timing chain. Greatly appreciated.
Timing chain area with cam sprocket off (the crank sprocket is on still, I know). Circled around the cam area, with the odd mark and the suspected pinhole:
Below is the closeup of the cam area:
Here is the cam gear itself; you can kind of see the worn teeth. Weirdly enough, this thing doesn't look old at all either.
And crappy photo before I got the timing chain off: