chain noise at initial startup, goes away right away?

[strad]

Only after the car has been sitting overnight or longer. After noise goes away there is no chain noise at any engine speed.

Now, I know the tensioner is hydraulic, but I guess what I'm asking is, is there also a spring or something in there that holds tension on the chain during cold startup, until oil press. builds enough in the tensioner? And if so, is my noise something I should consider normal or should I be thinking about a new tensioner. I've only driven the car about 300 miles since purchase, so am not acquainted with what is "normal."

I searched the topic, but didn't see anything closely related to what I'm asking.

[Mike325]

I know that there is no spring for the tensioner for the m42. Not sure if that noise in normal or not. I would not be worried about it though. Does it do it after a warmer/cooler night? Does it get worse every time it does it?

[strad]

Seems to do it about a second longer after a cold night. It's always about the same, no better or worse each time. And after that first startup of the day, it never does it again.

[M42Technik]

Sounds like your timing chain tensioner. Its usually temperature related, M42's seem to hate cold weather. Common fault on the M42. Cheap replacement (M44 part), easy to swap, you just lose a little oil when you replace it, its a bit easier from the bottom but you can do it from the top of the car.

More here on replacement:

http://www.esatclear.ie/~bpurcell/318isfaults.html#timingchaintensioner

Timing Chain tensioner part # (new type) : 1131 1 743 187
Timing Chain tensioner washer part #: 07 11 9 963 355

That should do it. Have fun!

[gearheadE30]

There actually is a spring inside the tensioner, and it shouldn't make much noise. Granted, everything is louder on startup because the oil has drained out of the inner workings of the engine.

[kowalski]

yeah tehre is a spring inside the tensioner. as for installing it, install it decompressed, its a bit harder to get in but you also don't have to sit through that 5-10 seconds of rattling wondering if the chain is going to jump some teeth.