timing chain questions 12v 2.8

[dahgz 0]

Hi all. My timing chain is making some noise i believe. I have two questions. First, if the timing is set correctly, the two notches in the back of the cams should always be in the same relative position. Correct? Mine are not. Second, there is about an inch to an inch and a half of play in the chain between the cam gears. Would this be a good indicator of guide or tensioner failure?

Car is idling and running like crap, backfiring, and gas is pooled in three manifold runners. Cam sensor code and knock sensor codes. Thanks for any info!

Oh and apprently the car has autotech 262 cams but both cams are stamped vw. Does autotech simply regrind vw cams? Car had receipts in the glovebox for 1800 dollars of head and cam work plus a giac stage 2 tune chip apprently.

[reynolds9000 26]

an inch and a half of slack! holy crap I'm surprised it's running at all. sounds like the upper tensioner bolt has completely failed and if you're having misfire issues and you have verified that the camshaft timing is off I would say there is a good chance that with so much slack in the upper chain that the engine has jumped timing and potentially bent a valve or two (or more).

at the minimum a compression test is in order to rule out valve train damage.

I can't imagine that with so much slack in the upper chain that it didn't make any of the tell-tale noises VR6 timing chains are known to make..

[dahgz 0]

I was worried about how for it could jump before smacking something..maybe now ive got my answer. Plan is to just pull the head im thinking. Already tore down halfway.

I bought this car with "rod knock" as the po described it. Having read about timing chain woes, and isolating the noise to the drivers side while checking it out, i pulled the trigger. Kinda nice to find exactly what you expect when diagnosing. Haha.

Thanks for the info. Extra confirmation is always good. Now to figure out if the valves are screwed or not.