Help me asses the condition of my timing components

[VegasKyle]

Now I have a problem.  I planed to take the car to the DMV today so I could get it titled and registered here in Nevada.

I was about a mile away from home in 3rd gear doing about 35mph.  All of a sudden the car started to make a loud buzzing sound.  It sounded kind of like the "diesel noise I was getting but much louder".  It sounds like it is coming from the timing case and you can hear it at any RPM.  The noise isn't constant, it changes with the RPMs. The car still idles fine but you can hear the noise.  I looked through the oil fill hole and you can see the timing chain is still in place.  

My guess is one of the guides completely gave out or something similar happen with the tensioner.  If this is the case and I can just replace the timing components, great.

My worry is that the chain jumped time and caused damage to the valves, pistons, and cylinders.  Is this possible? Would the car still hold an idle if this is the case?  How can I find out if this happen?  Would I be able to tell just by taking the valve cover off?

I don't want to buy all the parts to do the timing chain, replace everything just to find out this it wasn't the problem or there is more damage.  

Thanks for the help.

I started a new thread in the "engine" section regarding this problem

http://m42club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=97209#post97209

[Sir Anthony Regents-park]

i just did this with my project car.. the cam gears are 52$ each... i think the crank gear is 70$. and the damn idler gear is like 125$.. i did not replace the idle gear on my car, but replaced the other 3.. i also replaced all of the plastic guides and the chain tensioner.

There is a picture in my build thread comparing the new cam gears to the old ones.

What's the actual issue with these? Is it the idler gear (the one to the left of and just above the crank gear) or the retaining bolt that fails?
Mine's in bits now. The idler gear is smooth and quiet, very little wear on any of the sprocket teeth at 180'000 miles and the chain looks perfect with no more 'bend' than the new one I have. I have two new cam sprockets and a new crank sprocket. The left hand chain tensioner rail (that the tensioner acts on) looks okay with the usual light grooving from the chain. It has the old type tensioner plunger and I have the later M44 type one to fit.
It's an early E36 so has the different sump. Do these have 'gasket shift'.....whatever that is!?

Cannot find any reliable info anywhere.............someone must know!

[monko141]

The idler gear has ball bearings inserted into plastic and pressed into the gear.  When the tensioner gets weak it allows the chain to 'slap' putting excess pressure on the gear and eventually it disintegrates.  
I don't think the e36 has the gasket shift problem since the pan bolts are external and you could see if they were missing.

[Sir Anthony Regents-park]

The idler gear has ball bearings inserted into plastic and pressed into the gear.  When the tensioner gets weak it allows the chain to 'slap' putting excess pressure on the gear and eventually it disintegrates.  
I don't think the e36 has the gasket shift problem since the pan bolts are external and you could see if they were missing.

Should be okay then. I only took the cover off mine to inspect the chain as it's done 180'000 miles. It's a 1992 E36 and had the original E30 type tensioner. It sounded okay, (M42's were never refined!) but the original chain (which has what looks like Iwis/Jwis markings on the links) has no measurable wear or stretch, the left hand tensioner rail looks good and all three sprockets look good enough to go again. I just happen to have three new ones and a new Jwis chain (in a Febi Bilstein box...) knocking about, so........
I will replace the centre bolt for the extra sprocket (or reverse idler in BMW speak) and put the new bits in - it might do 200'000 miles. Maybe.

[lbreevesii]

I had this in my pan and I've put 3000 miles on since then.

Yikes.  

I found nothing in my oil pan...and i've gotten to put three miles on it since then!  :rolleyes: