Diesel like clatter in a V-6

Hi all. My motor had a clatter that has me stumped. It seems to be coming from the front of the motor. At first I thought that it was excessive vertical play in the distributor shaft so I installed another washer in between the distributor gear and the housing. This had no effect so I pulled off the valve covers thinking that maybe one of the rocker arms had worn out. No luck. I have a video of the engine running at the link below. Have any thoughts?

http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g48/wrenchbender1/Jeep/?action=view&current=DSCF0002.flv

 

Check the bolt that holds the engine damper on the end of the crank. Or a really bad timing chain?

 

mine makes the same noise till it warms up real good say after 30 min. of driving.

 

I was thinking timing chain too. But the jeep supposedly only has 34000 miles on it. The compression test I did after buying it would seem to back this up (All cylinders in the 160's).

 

the rubber tensioners the chain rides on could be worn down to metal

 

by the way my noise goes away it gets to around 1000 to 1300 rpms.

 

If the timing is wayyyyy off it can make it sound like a bucket of bolts. Check it with your timing light.

Timing chain - just check it out. You can take the distributer cap off then rotate the motor by hand (crank pulley nut) to see the relationship. I've heard you can feel the chain through the hole if you take off the fuel pump.

 

Timings fine. I set it and the dwell when I put the distributor back in. I'll have to check the chain.

 

Had this problem with mine and it turned out to be the advance weights in the distributor. The bushings were worn so oblong that the weights were able to fly up at the ends and contact the inside of the cap. Metal weight on plastic cap made diesel chatter. Would go away with a little RPM. I had to actually pull the weights out before I found the problem.

 

Hmmm. I'll have to try that. The weights on mine do have a bit of slop to them.