More Grinding Noises (Idler Bearing?)

[MaXiMuS007]

Well yesterday when i came home from uni, i arrive to the sound of a loud cyclic rubbing/grinding noise eminating from the cam cover...

I first noticed the sound on sunday when i went to the airport, it was actually the longest drive i'd taken in the car yet, but it was extremely faint and it sounded like it could have been the fan belt.

I started it up this morning, there was no noise when it was cold but as the car warmed up the sound returned. Anyway, I went to the mechanic, he reckons it could be the Idler Bearing, but he can't tell till he opens the thing up ($$ in labour),

I had the timing belt changed 2000 k's ago.

How much is an idler bearing gonna cost me? I did find a thread that said something about $220. Is that right?

Help

-Max (the man with what is starting to feel like a lemon R33:()

[Interloper]

Hey dude, the idler bearing only costs about $40. I had mine changed a few weeks ago when i was doing the timing belt cos it wasn't turning smoothly, kind of a scraping feel when turned.

[MaXiMuS007]

Hrmm thats not too bad.

Thing is, I don't actually know whether its the idler bearing or not, thats just what the mechanic said he thinks it could be.

Can't tell til I open her up.

Maybe I'll give it a go over the weekend? Any1 wanna help???

[MaXiMuS007]

actually that brings me to another question, what tools would I need to open up the cam cover?

Don't flame me, coz I really have no idea about what to do but I'd like to know

[phorj]

I did my cam belt a few months ago with the help of a mate... this is a rough guide (GUYS, CORRECT ME IF I MISS SOMETHING OUT).

Drain Radiator, unplug and remove.

Remove casing around the fan, and the fan itself.

Remove cam-angle sensor (silver/grey thing on top-right of engine... connected to exhaust cam)

Cam cover comes off in 2 pieces... 1 for the top, 1 for the bottom.

Remove harmonic balancer (I strongly recomend the use of a harmonic balancer pulley)

Remove all 5/6 maybe 7 bolts/screws from cam cover (top and bottom), from memory you could use an allen-key to remove these and it was was EASY/EASIER!

There you have it!

This will only give you ACCESS TO THE CAMS-GEARS!

for the cams...

you need to remove the pipe from the air-box to the inlet plenum

remove 6/8 screws/bolts from casing on top of engine.

BE VERY CAREFUL not to damage head-gasket as they can be re-used

SH|T...

[MIND HAS GONE BLANK... ONE OF THOSE WEEKS]

{STAY TUNED... MIGHT REVISIT IF I GET MY HEAD ON STRAIGHT AGAIN... IF}

If you have probs, e-mail me on [email protected]

I can't help this weekend... sssoooo many assignments to finish for monday! But any weekend after/any evening would be fine if you were serious and would like the help.

P.S> let me know how it goes as i have the same prob! Nissan told me it was the idler pulley (which is why me and my mate ripped my car apart... only to find out that it wasn't the idler pulley afterall).

I was just going to let it go until my engine died and put in the RB30DET I'm in the process of working on!

[MaXiMuS007]

I went to another mechanic (my usual one), he spent 15 minutes listening to stuff with his little stethoscope thing

He says its not coming from the cams but from the airconditioning or something so not to be too concerned and get it fixed when i can. And he seemed pretty certain.

Strange, but at least i can give my car a thrashing again