4 ms·
Chains are great if you drive a car to 125k miles and junk it, but I've recently started preferring belts since I try to make mine last 200. Eventually the cha
by nrjdhsbsid 10y ago
Chains are great if you drive a car to 125k miles and junk it, but I've recently started preferring belts since I try to make mine last 200.
Eventually the chain tensioners wear out and changing a chain is enough work that I usually scrap the car at that point. Belts are much easier to change, and perhaps more importantly, inspect.
- ayuvar 10y agoNot to mention that a lot of chain-drive cars often choose cheaper or substandard materials for chain guides. You end up with a choice between sounding like it's broken and having to spend a good chunk of a weekend dismantling it.
- nrjdhsbsid 10y agoI've driven a lot of cars beyond that point where the chain guides don't exist... The sounds of a chain sloshing around are unmistakable :). If you're lucky it will skip a few teeth one day and give you a chance to fix it. Unlucky, it skips a bunch of teeth and bends all the exhaust valves. I managed to salvage one of those too by driving around at high rpm until the valves had...Hammered themselves mostly straight again. Wouldn't recommend, usually you'll get an iffy cylinder or two after that that mysteriously only fire above 2000 rpm
- toomanybeersies 10y agoI've owned 3 vehicles with cam chains. All of them have over 320,000 km (200k miles). None of them have had issues with the chain or the tensioner. That could be a testament to old Japanese engines (specifically Nissan) though, two from 1996 and one from 1982.