noise from timing chain housing

Well, not being able to see/hear the car here is my guess. First of all the water pump has nothing to do with the timing chain, and a problem with the water pump will not cause a problem with the timing chain. That being said it is probably time for a timing chain. There is not really an interval, you just go until you hear that growling noise from inside the cover. Again thats based on your description and original diagnosis of where the noise is coming from. Did you use a screw driver to detect the noise, or just stick your head near the cover?

To Sean1643: I am hillbilly bill, however, I have not been able to get logged in under that screen name and have not been able to get it remedied through the forum owner. I finally ended up having to open a new account. I had posted a question on 11/17/08 concerning a noise coming from my timing chain housing. As I stated I had the water pump replaced and the noise started afterwards. In your reply you said the water pump had nothing to do with the timing chain. On this particular model the water pump is driven by the timing chain. You must loosen the timing chain in order to replace the pump. The man who replaced the pump said the timing chain and related parts all looked good. I did not have opportunity to inspect the chain while the car was apart. I'm assuming he knew what he was talking about. According to my Haynes Repair Manual the slack must be taken out of the chain when replacing the chain and tightening the chain tensioner. The tensioner is controlled by oil pressure. Is it possible the chain did not have all the slack taken out properly. Since the car was repaired we have driven the car about 600-700 miles and it seems to run fine. It is only at idle when you can hear the noise from the chain housing. We have checked with several mechanics and each one has a different theory and their price range for repairing it ranges from a couple hundred up to six hundred. The original mechanic says he did his job properly and I don't know how to prove him otherwise without tearing the car back apart. This procedure is quite time consuming and expensive. Due to the time required to tear the car apart it will be awhile before I could get around to doing the job myself, which is why I had somebody else do the job in the first place. So my question is what risk is there to damaging the car by driving it until such time as I can do the job?

hi sean,the pump has nothing to do with the chain,but on mine the top slide broke,i had to replace it,and the chain,and because it a big job i also replaced the tennsioner,that shut it up.