Uh Oh... Its that noise again! Safe to drive?

[joetiii]

So a loud slapping noise resurfaced in my engine this past friday. First time it happened, was 1,000 miles ago after a good hour or so of high RPMs chasing around a 930. Sounded like it was coming from the right side chain area. The engine idled fine w/ no skip. I figure the right tensioner doesn't have enough spring. I drive it home at low RPM with my tailpipe between my legs. Fire it up the next AM and the noise is gone. Never to return until ......

Fast forward 6 months and the cars been running great. I fire the engine to head out with my wife on fri. eve. The engine starts making that slapping sound again. Pretty loud at idle and seems to go away above 2200RPM. Am I on the right path with a lazy tensioner? I have stock mechanical tensioners now and have the car scheduled for the Carrera tensioner update at my garage this friday. Is the car safe to run the 30 miles to the garage?

[joetiii]

Sound is still there today when I fired it up. Anybody care to comment?

[ZOA NOM]

I haven't experienced the telltale tensioner failure noise, but if I had any indication of excessive noise in that area, I would open the cover and verify before running that motor any further. Fixing it early is lots easier and cheaper than fixing it after it destroys your motor.

[spuggy]

Well, a noise coming from the chain area seems pretty specific.

Sounds like the tensioner is sometimes sticking and sometimes working correctly - otherwise, why would the noise have stopped in the first place only to return? Valve clearances, rockers etc. pretty much don't "heal"...

As to driving it, your car, your repair/towing bill, your choice. You're also the only one that can hear it and knows what the motor normally sounds like, so...

My take? It's not functioning correctly. It might stay noisy, "fix" itself again, get worse or it might fail completely. You know what happens then. You might also get away with it.

Just considering the relative costs and inconvenience of towing & upgrading as opposed to a rebuild, I think I'd be calling a tow company on Friday.

But then I just went through an unscheduled motor rebuild, and I would try very hard to avoid another...

[Gene Wilkes]

A chain tensioner failure can be catastrophic!!! I would have the car loaded on a carrier and WOULD NOT START THE ENGINE AGAIN!!!!!

[ossiblue]

Unless you take Zoanas' advice and check it yourself, I say follow the suggestions already given and have the car towed. The few dollars (relative to a rebuild) for the cost of the tow is worth the peace of mind that no damage will be done.