Timing Chain or tensioner maintenance

[user11235813]

OK I'm up to 39,000kms, everything seems to going along nicely. There's a tiny leak on the timing chain tensioner and I may get around to doing something about that soon, however I am wondering if apart from the slight oil leak which is not really a problem, if there is some other preventative maintenance I should do for the timing chain to prevent a catastrophic failure, or is this something that I need not worry about?

[user11235813]

bumpity bump.

[Watcher]

I'm sure the chain itself has a service life.  Don't know what it is but by the time you get around to needing to replace the timing chain you'll likely be in the head to do a valve job or piston rings or something at the same time.

As far as maintenance goes...  it's in the crankcase and lubricated via engine oil so... 

[user11235813]

OK thanks, that is reassuring to know. The reason I brought this up was because of the weird cam chain tensioner on the S40 which apparently let's go after about 20k kms and does some real damage. Just wanted to check that the timing chain on the GS or the tensioner itself doesn't suddenly let go after x amount of milage.

[Joolstacho]

Having had a failed tensioner which cause catastrophic damage when the timing chain skipped a tooth or two on the camshaft, resulting in a bent valve., I'd just advise... replace the tensioner and camchain! It's pretty cheap, -and an awful lot cheaper than new valves and complete top-end rebuild.

[user11235813]

@Joolstacho,

How many miles did you have on your gs before that happened? That sounds like the tensioner failing caused the problem rather than the chain itself. If I remove the tensioner in order to replace the gaskets, what would I be looking at with regards to the tensioner to check it's condition? Are there some guides to be able to tell if it's getting near the end of its life?

Is this something that is rare on the GS or is it something that becomes a problem after a certain amount of milage. This is really what I'm wanting to know.

thx.

[Big Rich]

I can't remember, but isn't there a spec in the service manual? Something along the lines of "there shouldn't be more than X amount of distance between Y number of pins"?

[gsJack]

My 02 GS's cam chain tensioner was still in good shape at 100k miles.  By the way that bike had a broken exhaust valve at about 20k miles caused by a tight bucket stuck and holding valve open while cranking to start one below freezing morning.  My 97 GS had no tensioner problems either, it had 80k miles on it when totalled.   

[J_Walker]

my tensioner failed at 19k miles on an 05 GS500. I replaced with OEM. But I think i'll replace with non-oem aftermarket built one one day. haven't really touched the GS in a second.

[Watcher]

I can't remember, but isn't there a spec in the service manual? Something along the lines of "there shouldn't be more than X amount of distance between Y number of pins"?

That's for setting the timing, not for maintaining the tensioner.

[The Buddha]

One of the dumbest things in this regard is that on this motor you can't remove the rear cam chain guide without splitting the cases. Not just removing the cyls, you have to split the cases entirely.

Thanks.
Srinath.

[Big Rich]

I can't remember, but isn't there a spec in the service manual? Something along the lines of "there shouldn't be more than X amount of distance between Y number of pins"?

That's for setting the timing, not for maintaining the tensioner.

No - setting the timing is counting the pins between the marks on the cam sprockets. Measuring chain stretch is the distance between X amount of pins. But I don't know if the timing chain is measured the same way as the drive chain.