Chain guide failure with pictures

[kerrie0400]

I started a thread about a whining noise I could hear in a Nissan navara stx that I was thinking of buying, its the 4.0lt v6 petrol motor. After hours browsing the net and different forums, I really didn't find any conclusive information that the chain guides do fail just like they do in the diesels.

I rang Nissan Australia - No known issues
I had the vehicle checked by a mechanic before I brought it - He says theres nothing wrong, nothing to worry about .

So I bit the bullet and brought the ute drove it 9 hours home with the whining noise, no issues besides the noise. I didn't want to risk causing any more damage so the first step was to put a set of chassis ears to determine where the noise was coming from, which was near the top left hand corner of the timing cover. The decision was made to pull it down and inspect the timing area and lucky I did.

This is what I discovered, so for anyone with a v6 d40 if you hear a whining noise its quite possible its the timing chain guides.

 

[180degrees]

The VQ40 is known to have timing chain issues.

 

[jjohn]

Good decision.....

Big job to fix?

 

[Old.Tony]

It's 10 times stronger than the diesel's bicycle chain. Who'd have thought the guide would give up like that?