Is it possible to discconect the engine from the transmission and pull it out from the top, or do I have to drop the transmission and engine together through the bottom? Which of course also means I have to remove a sub frame if I am not mistaken?
Any good sites showing how this is done?
Trevor
Believe it or not, puling the valve cover makes it doable to pull it out the top.
"In Oldskool we trust"
I have wondered the same thing. I don't know what the typical life expectancy is for my engine (or transmission for that matter), but sometimes I wonder what I would do if the timing chain breaks or the engine blows up.
Dean Johnson wrote:I have wondered the same thing. I don't know what the typical life expectancy is for my engine (or transmission for that matter), but sometimes I wonder what I would do if the timing chain breaks or the engine blows up.
If you upgraded to the new tensioner I wouldn't worry about it. If you didn't, I would suggest doing that now as it's less than 40 bucks. It's on the back of the head so all you have to do is remove the valve cover and tie the chain to the gears while the old tensioner is removed. 32mm socket.
"In Oldskool we trust"
"new tensioner" ? Is there a TSB or recall I don't know about? Wow do I have enough problems without adding another thing to worry about on the mountain.
Dean Johnson wrote:"new tensioner" ? Is there a TSB or recall I don't know about? Wow do I have enough problems without adding another thing to worry about on the mountain.
If you haven't done this I suggest doing it immediately. Once it's done you never have to worry about the timing chain again... unless it breaks a front guide bolt. The old tensioner works primarily on spring pressure and there is no snap ring to hold the tensioner tip onto the spring. This tip then falls off and causes the chain to lose tension and eventually the chain skips time. This is the reason for most of the early ecotecs being in the junkyard. You can feel the back of the cylinder head on the passenger side for the tensioner to determine if it is the new or old style. It looks like a 32mm bolt head. The old tensioner head is thin and flat. The new style is thicker and has a big bump in the middle. If you feel the bump, you're good to go.
Here are easy instructions on how to replace the tensioner and which one you should get. It's for a 2.0 LSJ ecotec but the process is 99.9% the same for the 2.2 l61 in our cars:
Tensioner replacement instructions
"In Oldskool we trust"
As a side note, I always "activate" the tensioner before installing it and just thread it in like that. I don't like the idea of hitting it with a wrench and hoping to hear it pop out.
"In Oldskool we trust"
i didnt think we could activate the tensioner before it was installed
