Strategies for Preventing Timing Chain Stretching (Wear): what can we do?

[Car_Almond]

Originally Posted by jkchambless

From reading the posts on the LLT engine failures, it appears that we do not HAVE a dashboard warning for low oil levels...major oversight, if true.

I think the timing chain just cares about oil pressure, not oil level. You can tolerate a lot of oil level drop without pressure problems. I'll bet we can run at 3 quarts low and still have enough oil being scooped up in the pan at the oil pickup tube-screen.

My other car is an 07 BMW 530, and warns you when a quart low, and yes that would be cool to have on our Camaros too. However, I think the timing chain oil gets fed from oil pressure, so as long as you have full oil pressure, then the chain gets oil OK. Cold starts are a problem, as always...

[Car_Almond]

Originally Posted by TooCool5

I worked for a bearing Co. who made the roller lifters for the GM 3800 V6.
Engineering did the infamous 4-ball wear test on various lubricants and additives and nothing could touch PTFE teflon.
Showed little to no wear at all. The oil additives that contained it have
been removed from the market since.
I suspect a lot of the wear is happening at start up when all the oil is drained down in the pan overnight. Also sludge builds up in this motor if you do not change the oil frequently, thus the shorter OLM change interval.
There is also a service bulletin about a check valve in the head I have never been able to get any info on at the Dealer.

OK, looks like the clues we have indicate that GM was looking at possible sludge issues blocking oil passages which fed the chain. Interesting, yet jkchambless above said he lost his timing chain at 60,000 miles after changing the oil at OLM-flagged intervals.... Maybe why GM thought shortening OLM miles would solve the problem.... Picture emerging, maybe.

[Car_Almond]

jkchambless, is that a 2010 Camaro that lost the timing chain? I guess the new chains are somehow better, probably carbonitriding, not sure.

[camaro2lt]

Anyone know where to get a magnetic drain plug for the v6 camaro?

[RubyCamaro]

Mike got mine at O'Riley's Auto Parts.

[RubyCamaro]

This crap worries me

I wonder what one would say to get GM techs to check the engine to see if the chain may be stretched & maybe get it replaced before the warranty runs out???????????????????????????

[rtcat600man]

Originally Posted by camaro2lt

Anyone know where to get a magnetic drain plug for the v6 camaro?

Any auto parts store. I was looking for which one it is but cannot find it in my records yet.

This thread should help too.

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...magnetic+drain

[Car_Almond]

A strong magnet for a drain plug, recommend Dimple, a very strong one, at Dimple website
It may be important to use one to reduce chain wear, since it grabs iron particles in the 2 micron to 30 micron range the oil filter misses.
A lot of the ones in autoparts stores use very weak magnets, so I can't recommend them.

[Car_Almond]

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

This crap worries me

I wonder what one would say to get GM techs to check the engine to see if the chain may be stretched & maybe get it replaced before the warranty runs out???????????????????????????

Can't really do that, as they would never want to take the front of the engine apart, breaking the seals, unless they had to.
The Camaro's on board diagnostics must first trigger OBDII codes which show up on the instrument panel for us to see, to indicate camshaft timing problems before techs would touch anything.

[shrinkdoc]

I have always wondered why GM reps hang around here but can never chime in on this major issue. They seem to just hide and lurk in the shadows ocaisionally coming out with some scripted response like "sorry your engine blew up, please feel free to contact me for further assistance if needed". But they can never address the root cause. I'm still wondering how many of these engine have or will see 100k miles without a timing chain fail. So far I think there is only 1 on this site. I'm seeing way to many failures on just this sight alone with failures and this is just a small sampling of the real world. Sure its covered under warranty but when we bought these cars we never thought we would have to worry about a headache waiting to happen. First we have to prove our oil changes and go through hoops wondering if GM is going to man up to a known issue. In fact there is one member here now who bought his used and GM is not manning up to his engine failure. That unacceptable. Just waiting for Fords new Mustang to jump ship unless I hear some good news from GM. I love my car and usually drive mine close to over 150-200k miles before getting another. So far it seems these engines are not capable. And when GM can't come here and defend their engines and prove me wrong I have no confidence in them long term. But maybe thats just me who feels this way.

[shrinkdoc]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

As you are probably aware, there have been numerous conversations about the issue here on the website. The best I can gather from that, and after talking to someone who tells me had talks about this with a GM master tech that he's known for a good while.....the best recommendation is to change the oil on these cars often, and make sure to keep it topped off.

I don't know if that IS the solution, or if it just pushes back the inevitable, or if that doesn't help at all. But its all I have to go on, so that is what I do.

As for your findings on oil lubricating better as many thousands of miles of use...all I can say is that basically seems to go against everything we've ever been told. I'm not saying I know for a fact that is complete rubbish, but what I will say is there is no way in hell I'm going to run my car for 12,000 miles without an oil change.

All this topping off and ridiculous frequent oil changing is pathetic for brand new car and is not a solution.

[Grimlock]

Originally Posted by Car_Almond

A strong magnet for a drain plug, recommend Dimple, a very strong one, at Dimple website
It may be important to use one to reduce chain wear, since it grabs iron particles in the 2 micron to 30 micron range the oil filter misses.
A lot of the ones in autoparts stores use very weak magnets, so I can't recommend them.

Well this makes sense. Bought one from a local Advanced. It grabbed a decent amount during the first 1000 miles, but every oil change since it's been pretty metal shaving-free.

[shrinkdoc]

Originally Posted by shrinkdoc

All this topping off and ridiculous frequent oil changing is pathetic for brand new car and is not a solution.

I can see if this were a Toyota, but its a Chevy.

[CamaroV6]

Dont get a 2010