Motor is non revup from 2006 m35. Car is secondhand.

Went to the dealer to fix an oil pan leak, and apparently they found a plastic piece belonging to a chain guide. Fortunately, the mechanic said that it may have been from previous guide that has been since replaced. Tried carfax and could not find any information of any work done on the engine. However, I know the individual I bought it from is familiar with VQs and works on them frequently, so maybe he worked on the car? Tried to get a hold of him, no response so far, been a year since I bought the car from him. From my visual inspection of the timing cover it appears some work was done in the timing housing, because the ATV appears new and it was used in excess quite a bit. Is ATV even used from factory>.

 

With that amount of rtv it's likely the timing cover has been off before. It comes from the factory with rtv, no gasket

 

You could always remove the left side access cover over the tensioner and use a borescope to look around inside at the tensioner guide, it's pretty tight but with good light you should be able to see if the end of it is broken off. The cover is just RTV sealed on and very accessible with the radiator fans removed which takes like 5 minutes.