Suzuki Ignis: M13A timing chain tensioner wear — cold-start rattle

The M13A in the first-generation Ignis is chain-driven, and the chain tensioner wears. It shows as a rattle for a few seconds after a cold start that lengthens over months until it is present all the time. The related faults on the same engine cluster around it: the exhaust gas recirculation valve cokes up with carbon and causes misfiring, sluggish acceleration and a rough idle, and the intake manifold gasket develops vacuum leaks that produce similar symptoms. All three are affordable individually and none of them is a reason to walk away from a cheap car — but a slack chain left long enough will eventually skip and cause real damage, and on a car of this value that ends it. The cold-start rattle is the one to listen for, and it is the one a warm engine hides completely.

• Rattle from the front of the engine for a few seconds after a cold start
• Rattle lasting longer, or present when warm, as it worsens
• Rough idle, misfiring or sluggish acceleration
• Engine warning light with camshaft timing codes
• Oil that is black, thin or below the mark on the dipstick

Insist on a stone-cold start and be standing at the front when the key is turned — this is the whole check, and a seller who has warmed the car before you arrive has removed the only evidence, so arrange to come back rather than settle. Listen to the first five seconds for a rattle or chatter from the front of the engine; a healthy one is quiet almost immediately. Let it warm and listen again at idle. Watch the tachometer for an idle that hunts and note any misfire or roughness, which points at the EGR valve or an intake gasket leak rather than the chain and costs far less. On the drive, accelerate gently and note any sluggishness. Pull the dipstick and check the oil level and colour, since chain wear on a small engine tracks oil neglect closely. Ask how often the oil is changed and whether the timing chain or EGR valve has ever been done. If a workshop inspection is possible: ask for the fault codes to be read, which separate a stretched chain from an EGR or vacuum-leak fault.

Parts involved: Timing chain.

$600 to $2,000 at New Zealand independent workshop rates. That is for this job on its own, not for the car.

An estimate, in NZD, for the repair as normally carried out. What a specific car costs depends on which part has failed and what it damaged on the way — treat this as the floor for a negotiation, not a quote.

• “Does it rattle at all when started from cold?”
• “How often has the oil been changed?”
• “Has the timing chain or the EGR valve ever been replaced?”

The failure described above is documented in published sources — owner forums, technical service bulletins, recall notices and workshop write-ups — held in our fault database. The inspection instructions and the cost estimate are KickTyres’ own interpretation of them, and it is a starting point for an inspection rather than a manufacturer statement.