1994 Cavalier - Did I bust a timing chain?

[Bobbywrite]

Hi everyone - I have a 1994 2.2. I tried starting my car but it sounded like the battery was low. ( A few whump whump sounds, before not turning over at all) I took the battery to Discount Auto where it is under warranty and they tell me the battery is fine. I tried jumping the battery with no luck...just the whump whump then death sounds (Starter turning over slowly) More research on the web indicated that the stater might be bad. So with 130K miles, why not? I changed the starter. Still having the EXACT same symptoms. Checked and cleaned all the wiring and terminals in the starter and charger circuit. Took the battery BACK to Discount Auto and almost beat the salesman with it. He quickly showed me that it was not the battery with this "battery tester" gizmo they have. In fact, he said the battery has over 700 cold cranking amps and that should do it. So, he thinks the remanufactured starter that I bought from them might be bad and to remove it and bring it back. Or, he said, I might have a busted camshaft gear or a busted timing chain. Any ideas at this point will be helpful..thanks!

[Bobbywrite]

Bump for Help on this one. Any ideas?

[Peggy_ann]

I'm having similar problems but my car will start after several attempts.

Did you ever find out the problem?

[jakegday]

when you hold the ignition in the "start" position, does the engine crank the entire time?

[Peggy_ann]

Mine does, but it's a strained sounding cranking - as though the battery is low. Then it will suddenly crank normally and start, but it runs very rough, makes a horible scary noise, and won't idle without holding down the accelerator.

[proudestmonky]

I have a 1998 Cavalier Z24 and the exact same thing happened to me today. It was idling terribly tough for the past couple of weeks and this morning when I tried to start it it made a weird grinding noise, tried to turn over, then nothing. When I put the key in it dings, but when I try to turn it over, nothing. Any ideas?

I am wondering if it has to do with my water pump. I had it replaced last year and the guy who did it told me I was probably going to have to have the timing belt replaced in the next year because the tensioner was outta wack. Possible?

[kirkwood158]

some what of a clue My 95 jeep grand had the same prob after throwing everthing at it I gave up and took it to dealer and found the crankshaft sensor was bad after 150,000....then 80,000 more I again had same prob but I knew what it was yeah now has 240,000 on the straight six .......seemed like a dead cell battery or bad starter and other times it would crank and be sluggish at other times or just fire up .Of course the 95 is not OBD2 but the codes were like from spark in igniion system not excat quote but hook up and see if your getting codes if not keep looking...it maybe just not have throw the code yet also for thought camshaft sensor these two things tell the computer when to fire plugs and if off could cause slow, no, dragging start