Cam chain replacement advice pls :)

[Guyelle]

Hi all! Long time lurker but never posted before, but I’m really worried about what I’m doing to my engine lol and need advice please, any TFSI experts out there?

sorry in advance if this is the wrong place to post this.
I’m doing a chain replacement on my Leon FR TFSI (BWA) by following this guide: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=66&t=1741310

I’ve hit a snag where it seems that maybe my intake cam is out of time, but the car ran fine prior to me doing this and I haven’t yet removed the chain or tensioner.
I’ve made a video that explains why I’m worried something is wrong:

The tool is very tight between the cams unlike what’s stated in the guide, but the tool has been updated with a different part number now so maybe it works better?

Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated

 

[mty12345]

I would take a guess that maybe the chain has steched ever so slightly, allowing the cam to advance slighty. Like I say that is just an idea though. What did you decide? How did you get on?

 

[Guyelle]

Hey thanks for the reply, I decided to set the timing so the lines match up to my original timing marks, which made sense to me seeing as the car ran fine before and the chain wasn’t stretched much. The intake cam was set using the 18-19 pins method in the video, but this seemed to set the timing way off my timing marks.

but now I’ve set it back to my original timing marks I have a lumpy idle, and I have no idea why! Completely lost with it to be honest.

 

[mty12345]

Really feel for you on that one mate, it looks like a bitch of a job too.

I've not got any hands on experience with the TFSI, but have done similar jobs on BMW's. Wish i could offer you a solution, but after reading through it and watching your video nothing much really springs to mind other than what you already said/did.

How lumpy an idle are we talking? Have you left it idling for long, or was it so bad you switched it straight off?
Is it definitely being caused by your timing, or is it possible that it's something else that you may have mis-fitted on reassembly, vac leak or something like that?

 

[Guyelle]

I’ve also done some BMW engine work too, not quite as weird as this though. It’s fairly lumpy, but not enough to stall. It sounds like it’s the kind of idle you’d get with a vacuum leak, but I can’t see anything not connected... I hope it’s not caused by my timing but I have a feeling it is

 

[Guyelle]

For anyone who might be reading this years later, the issue was I was paying too much attention to the timing marks I made, and didn't have enough trust in the timing tool itself, so the timing was off a tooth.

The timing tool is fairly accurate if you get the genuine (which I had), all I had to do was trust it!

 

[salwidamal]

thank you for this, might help me if i decide to do my chains myself in the near future. i just dont want to ef it up or have problems like this and be stuck, so yeah thanks for clarifying this 3 years later