[45tr0]

Hi all,

Been looking at a few Vitaras and have found one at the right price point to leave some coin for a few mods... BUT it's making a bit of lifter noise. Constant, not just on warm up.

Since I know bugger all about the V6 (and moderately little about turning spanners) and assuming the "$10 bottle of Nulon" trick doesn't make an improvement, How much trouble/expense am I looking at?

[want33s]

Do the V6's even have lifters?
I thought they just run the rocker on the cam.

Big end knocks are common in them, as are timing chain noises.

[fordem]

The V6 in the SV620 has hydraulic lifters - no rockers - if it's just the lifters I wouldn't worry to much - but - noisy lifters can be an indication of improper maintenance, missed oil changes, etc., and that will also affect the timing chain (which has hydraulic tensioners), so make sure you know where the noise is coming from - front end or up top.

[45tr0]

Thanks Fordem - from what I've read the timing chain is just an adjustment to remove the noise, correct? Or am I looking at a replacement? The car has done about 185,000km - is that reasonable sort of clicks to expect these sort of noises as normal?

[fordem]

No - the timing chain is not an adjustment - depending on the condition it's in, you're going to be replacing at a minum, the guides (5), the tensioners (2), the adjusters (3) and possibly the chains (3) and sprockets (5).

Unfortunately this is not something that can be predicted based on mileage - if the maintenance has been done you can get well over 200,000 miles from the timing gear, if it hasn't less than half that.