I have a 98 cavalier rs with a broken timing chain that I am getting ready to replace. I was talking with a friend and he said he had broken his chain on another car and had to remove the head and do some repair work there too. My question here is, if I broke the timing chain, what are the chances it pulled or somehow damaged the valves or another part of the head?

I'd say your chances are 50-50. You'll know when you pull it apart and try to turn the crank and cams to line everything up, you'll hear scraping/chunking. Just don't force the gears, if there is a valve open and you get medevil on the crank gear, you could damage it yourself. RTFM to see where the cam gears need to be for "all closed".

I had a Chevy Monza (ne1 remember those?) that broke the timing belt, and I got lucky and didn't have to pull the head.



John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto

I've been working on my timing chain in my barely free time on days off, I unhooked everything that needed unhooked lowered the engine as much as possible, removed the crank pully and I beleive it's the harmonic balancer? behind it. Now I have a problem, the haynes manuel I have shows nothing on the timing cover, but on mine I have the drivebelt tensioner? on the upper part of the cover. Does anyone know how I remove it? It's blocking 2 of the bolts into the timing cover.

Dont know if it the same for GMs but on Fords you need a special tool to remove the tensioner.


- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new

If it's a 2.2 there is a 10mm bolt i beleive and a torxs. I think the size may ave been 45t but i'm not sure. Also if you take the chain off make sure you re-align everything after your done. Even if you think nothin has moved it will when you release the tensioner. I had to re-do mine because of that mistake.

I'm assuming you have a 2.2l since your reg. says you have an RS.

The 2.2l is a non interference engine, so your head should be fine. The tensioner assembly should have a couple bolts around the housing. I know it will come off if you remove the top engine mount bracket. I wrote a FAQ awhile back on how to change the tensioner, so if you search it should come up(its for 95-97, but most everything should apply to the 98+).

The 2.2L is most definitely an interference style engine. Zach where did you get your info from ?

The serp belt tensioner has nothing to do with the motor mount either.

Vinay Mal wrote:The 2.2L is most definitely an interference style engine. Zach where did you get your info from ?

The serp belt tensioner has nothing to do with the motor mount either.

I guess I got some bad info from MadJack. Sorry.

I know the belt tensioner has nothing to do with the motor mount, but if you take the bracket off the head you should have no problem finding the bolts to remove the tensioner assembly.

OK, I replaced my timing chain finaly, there was no water/oil mix so I am guessing my head is ok. My problem now is the car won't start, it turns over and does not make any weird noises, but it just won't start. It sounds normal while I am cranking it over, and there is spark and we can smell fuel(also checked the plugs after awhile and they were covered with fuel).

Does anyone know if the timing was off when I put the chain on, would it do this? I would think it would have problems, backfire or something, but I am not sure. Also is there a way to check the fuel pump and fuel preasure regulator to make sure they are doing their job? One last question, The battery was unplugged for about 3 months before I finaly got to work on it, could the computer be misbehaving? or some kind of security lock? I do not have an alarm on the car though.

I am getting desperate now as my truck finaly broke down and I am somewhat carless now, any help is greatly appreciated.

Try to switch spark plug wires between coils, if that can be done. On a '98 2.2L there are 2 coils, one for 1-4 cylinder and the other for the 2-3.

The rotational ratio between the crank and the camshaft is 1:2 (camshaft rotates at half the speed of the crankshaft), o, there is a chance your camshaft is wrong-timed, and the spark fires at the wrong time.

We swapped the wires between the coils and still have the same problem, no backfire, no starting at all, and still have gas and spark. We tried rewiring the engine 180 and I believe my friend put them in a random order. This is leading me to believe it's not the timing chain, but perhaps something else?