Chain tensioner noise intermittent?
 

Hello Troops!

Today for the 1st time ever I heard the dreaded sound of chain being dragged across a garbage can lid emanating from the engine bay at 2500 rpm. Immediately took it to my wrench and sure enough, he uttered the verdict "chain tensioner hooped". However driving it home, the noise has completely disappeared. Is it possible this was a temporary phenomenon, or something completely different? It is '87 Carrera with 116,000 miles. Would have thought tensioner failure was constant and not intermittent...

Any opinions appreciated! Thanks!

Mine's a 1987 with 180K. I get chain rattle when hot (normal operating temp and norman operating temp+) consistently. No rattle whatsoever when cold. The hotter the engine the more chain rattle. I'm thinking I'm in need of full rebuild with stretched chains and tensioners at their limit or beginning to fail. My solution: 58k engine swap rather than rebuild. Then I'll rebuild the old engine:D

Just went through this scenario with my 77S. Occasionally i could hear, what I thought was chain noise. this would happen if I was next to another car or building and the noise would reflect off the object. I'd get it home and, at idle or revving, it would be ok. I thought that maybe I was hearing things, until eventually it got bad enough to hear in the garage. I put a stethoscope on the cover and yikes....shut it down. The tensioner was definitely collapsed. I could push it down with my finger easily. Luckily, i had guards installed that kept the tensioner from collapsing completely.

Had new tensioners fitted circa 3k miles ago, occasionally hear the rattle on cold startup. Will definitely go back to the enngine builder for another look.

Went trough the same two years ago....chains were stretched...97 K miles on the clock.