I can attest to the timing chain setup being pretty robust in the PRV. I have a 100,000-mile engine torn down on an engine stand in my shop, and the chain tensioners are barely even scuffed on their gliding surface with lots of travel left in the tensioners (they ratchet one way to maintain chain tension). With my torn-down engine I see little tendency for chain tension to be lost from either the chain relaxing over time nor the guides wearing. It looks as tight as brand new and the chains themselves appear perfectly fine. I'm not sure what the failure mode for the timing chain would be, but there does not appear to be a wear-related issue with that part of the system. A sudden and catastrophic break of the chain is conceivable, but I suspect in most cases it would be precipitated by some other stress condition first (or other failure that cascades). I look forward to seeing you all at DCS. Knut --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Warren Wallingford <warren@...> wrote: > > The Delorean PRV is an interference engine, but just barely. The valves > will just mark the top of the piston if the cams are not turning and the > crank is. That said, I've never encountered cam chains broken from > wear: never. A greater danger is loss of oil pressure that will allow > the chains to loosen and perhaps jump time. Even more dangerous is > severe overheating that that can pop out a valve seat which will hang up > in the combustion chamber, putting a hole in the piston or bending a > valve or rod. That will break your chain. > Warren at DMC > > mike p wrote: > > Hi, I'm concerned about my timing chain going and more concerned about what will happen to the engine if the timing chain breaks. > > > > If the Delorean engine is an interference engine, then I understand it will be trashed if the timing chain breaks. My car has over 140K miles, although the seller and odometer said it only had 40K miles, and I am considering replacing the timing chain. > > > > Does anyone know what signs I should look for if the chain is about to go?, pinging? > > > > Thanks, > > > > Mike > > #5781 > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/