good thought but if i would have missed teeth then it would have been out of time. it ran perfect. something must have broke in the secondary chain or gear. Ill have to take the front off to be able to see. ill try and get pics when its all out.

 

Is the VQ engine a interference engine or non interference engine? If you broke a camshaft or a secondary timing chain and it's a non interference engine you might still have a chance of keeping the engine alive without taking it apart. If it's a interference engine, it's probably piston slapping against a valve you're hearing.

Good luck man.

 

im thinking and praying it is a non-intereference... lookin at the cam shaft all valves are in the closed position (EXH) the slap isnt constant enough for a valve to be in the way of the piston. very weird

 

If it was a valve then it would be a pretty consistant with the revs. Sound slike your valves may just be ok.

True. My friend's mustang was just a single tooth off and at initial startup caused the damage.
However, I remember hearing about the VQ running with as much as either 10 or 15 degrees off. (Don't quote me on the number, I don't remember what it was) Don't know if this is due to the variable intake timing or some other mechanism but I was told the engine could run without bending a valve. {end of irrelevant though interesting tidbit}

Try to wiggle the valves a bit to see if they move. Although there should be some movement in each one, a bent valve could be jiggled around more than the other valves.
Well, at least thats how we diagnosed which valve bent on his mustang

 

got the front off and the secondary timing chain is broke...crazy! ill post pics when i can...but i still havent got a look at the valves...praying they are ok

 

OUCH...
*crosses fingers*

 

wonder how this happened... i must be the first person to break a secondary chain haha

 

Well I removed the big intake gear and found that the dow pin for the intake cam on the gear is broken... ... i believe i will also have to replace the camshaft as the hole where the pin went in is reamed(only word i can think of to describe it) out... Also the secondary chain tensioner is in there at an angle now.... but here are some crappy pix









for the life of me i cannot figure out why nissan designed this gear with a small 1/8 in diameter dow pin to drive the intake camshaft along with the exh cam.... seems to be a more robust and stronger design would be to use a key like in the crank....

as from looking at it i think i know what happened...

i believe i put the cam gear on wrong...meaning that tiny *** dow pin was in the larger hole instead of the smaller one on the camshaft...not even sure if this is even possible but judging from the looks of things and how the pin broke on the gear, this is what happened....not sure whatelse could have happened to cause this other than my error on installation. again sorry for the crappy pix but the fiance stole the camera so i had to use my cell phone