Replacing a timing chain on a vehicle takes around 1 hour to 2 hours depending on the make and model of vehicle.
Some vehicles you need to remove a lot of stuff on the vehicle to get to the timing chain cover and you usually need to remove the water pump as well.
So it's not as simple as just pulling a cover off and replacing the timing chain as there's a lot more involved to get to the timing chain.
So it can take anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours and sometimes as long as 3 hours to replace the timing chain and then put everything back in place.
When I first replaced a timing chain on a van it took me 4 hours because I was having a hard time getting some stuff out of the way to get to the timing chain.
Then I had to put everything back together which took another couple hours.
So in total actually it took me 7 hours to complete the job but a good auto shop should be able to replace the timing chain within a few hours.
The timing chain also has to be on the correct marks with the crankshaft for it to time the engine properly.
The cost for a shop to replace the timing chain costs around $250.00 to $600.00 depending on the make and model of vehicle as most of that cost is in the labor to replace the timing chain.