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Your problem could be the timing chain. If it's coming primarily from the left (US passenger side) then it is likely the culprit. If it is coming from the somewhere else on the cover then it could be a noisy lifter or two, especially if it happens only with a cold engine. Try to narrow things down by taking a length of vacuum hose or socket extension or whatever you have handy and use it as a sort of stethoscope to pinpoint the sound.
Next you'll want to pull the valve cover. Give the chain and sprockets a good visual inspection for obvious wear. The best way to assess chain wear is to turn the engine over to TDC and examine the alignment marks on the cam sprockets. They should align quite closely to their corresponding marks, otherwise you have a bit of stretch. Having a chain break on a pre-balance shaft engine is really rare and often simply replacing the tensioner and upper guide will quiet things up.
The upper guide is the black plastic part which is attached to the top of the valve cover above the chain. It's cheap and easy to replace. A large screw driver can help work the old one out and the new one in.
The tension is also easy and pretty cheap (~$40 from Sobstory).
-First check to see if you have the old style (flat cadmium plated) or new style (black with a smaller nut on top). It's located on the back of the head in-line with the chain and just under the upper motor mount. If you have the old style then its worth replacing.
-To ease access, unbolt and remove the upper torque arm/motor mount. This only takes a couple minutes.
-Then just take a 27mm deep socket (it needs to be deep to install the new one) and unbolt the old one. I have heard reports of the tensioner coming apart and part of it dropping in the crank case. This did not happen in my car and is probably pretty unlikely, but if you have the valve cover off it couldn't hurt to put some pressure on the the chain/guide in that area.
-If the old tension has extended more than 11mm then you have some stretch. It's your call if you want to replace the chain or not though, I wouldn't worry about it as long as the other tests look okay.
-The new one bolts in to 40 lbs/ft (be sure to get a new o-ring too)
-Then you tension it up by pulling the small black clip from the small bolt head. Tighten the small bolt up until its snug and your good to go.
-Don't worry, the job sounds harder than it is, really!
If the noise doesn't sound like its coming from the chain area then it could be the lifters clattering. This is most likely to happen with a cold engine and the lifters just haven't pumped up yet, it isn't a big deal. One problem that some people have is that the little plastic nipples which feed oil the the lifters get clogged or whatever. While you have the valve cover off it's a good time to pull these assemblies off and blow through them to make sure you're getting good flow. I'd buy a couple spare corner pieces and the pieces of the lifters as they are very cheap and after ten years are pretty fragile. I broke two of them when I did this and naturally didn't have the forethought to have bought new ones before hand.
If you actually have to have the chain replaced then it will definitely set you back a few dollars. It's a big job as the whole front of the engine has to come apart. If you are brave then you could probably do it yourself, but I'm sure others can give you more advice on this. Hopefully the tricks above will sort things out though.
Craig
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