Thread: 1998 cavalier
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Old 05-11-2009, 04:39 PM
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J-Ri J-Ri is offline
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Re: 1998 cavalier

You're very welcome. On the subject of the timing chain, I forgot (probably the most important part) to say that after you get it all lined up, rotate the engine two full turns by hand. Stop rotating if you get more resistance than you should. This is an interference engine which means the valves will hit the pistons if the timing is off. After those two revolutions, make sure the timing marks still line up. If they do, you're ready to go back together. For the tensioner, you need to remove it and press it back in on a workbench. Once you get it pressed in, install it on the engine and with a screwdriver between the piston and the tensioner, twist so that the screwdriver pushes in on the piston, this will release it and put enough tension on it to hold the chain until you get oil pressure back. It's normal to have the chain slap around in the housing a little bit (sounds horrible and you'll be sure you screwed something up), don't worry it will go away after a few seconds to a couple minutes depending on how good the oil pump is. Crank the engine in flood clear mode for about 15 seconds before you fire it up, that will hopefully get some oil back to the tensioner and reduce or eliminate the chain slapping around.
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'04 Cavalier coupe M/T 2.2 Ecotec
Supercharged 14 PSI boost, charge air cooler, 42# injectors
Tuned with HP Tuners
Poly engine/trans/control arm bushings
Self built and self programmed progressive methanol injection system
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