Hey guys,
First off I think this is the best website for people who own the kind of cars we own. Now my ?. I have a 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier with a 2.2 in it. A couple of months ago I noticed my motor was running a little rough. Now there is a pretty loud noise coming from the side of the motor. Originally I was told it was coming from the valve cover, but I just had a new top end put on about a year ago. I took the valve cover off and there was nothing out of the ordinary there. Upon further inspection we noticed if you put a long block of wood up against the tensioner pulley the sound vibrated through but when I checked the tensioner it seemed to be fine. I have also heard that the timing belt tensioner might be bad. The noise is a loud clicking sound almost like a thudding noise. I have driven the vehicle ever since and there have been no performance issues or any kind of power loss. I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and knows what the fix is. Thanx again people.Peace
One: The tensioner will fail in time, so it must be replaced along with the pulley. And it sounds like maybe it's time is now.
Two: How many miles are on that car? If it's over 80,000, it's time to replace the the camshaft timing set & tensioner. Trust me one this one, you don't want to know first-hand what may & will happen if you don't.
Three: You may already be into the begining of the problem of what may happen that is afore-mentioned. At that point, figure new timing set, oil pump & pickup, crank and bearings, not to mention possibly cam & bearings with a definite need to replace the lifters (Small metal frags like to take them out first because of the oiling priority of the LN2). Hopfully it hasn't and won't come to all that, and at most you'll just need to replace the timing set & add a replacement oil pump slated for the '90-'92 Cavy pushrod 2.0L engine (8th VIN character code: 1. These babys make 80psi at 3000rpm hot!).
All in all, this should give you some fair clarity as to what your problem may be. Now get to it!
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
