You need a T-50 Torx Bit. Grab one of those and get that headache over with.

 

totally opened up this thread thinking it was gonna be some fat guy trying to buckle his pants !

 

Lmao, I'm pretty skinny.

I got her on finally, tried a couple different methods and had success!

New problems now though.. the car runs great, boosts great, no codes but when idling I can hear a bit of a tick (it used to make a really quiet one but now it's moderatly loud) and my supercharger is making a really weird nose. Kind of like a whooshy grindy noise.. Only at idle and the idle is a little bumpy but I'm going to look into that later.

The dealership pressed the old pulley off and the new one on and otherwise I did all the work.

Joel

 

Joel it's hard to diaganose sounds over the internet haha but what I am thinking you could be hearing is a bad supercharger coupler possibly. Does the sounds get worse as you drive the car, or is your exhaust to loud to hear it? At idle what is your vacuum at, it should be pretty close to -20 on the boost gauge. As far as the tick, it's tough to say. If you are sure it's from the engine, and say not a hot exhaust for example, then it could be several different things. If you can, grab an audio clip/video of it for me so I can hear it and I will try to help you from there. You didn't lose any bolts did you haha?

 

Stock exhaust (Had a loud car and don't want one again).

It is only at idle that I can hear it and when I'm outside the car. When I get someone to rev it a little the sound seems to dissappear or I just can't hear it over the rest of the engine. The ticking is for sure from somewhere on/in the engine. I think it may be the timing belt tensioner. I was screwing with it pretty hard haha. The sounds from the supercharger the only way I can describe it would be roll a marble across a counter or a floor. Sounds like that. Also, would the way the dealership pulled the pulley damage it? They said they had to use a 3 jaw puller for a transmission! (WTF!). I was under the impression that you were supposed to use a different type of puller, or a block of wood etc.

I'll check what my vacuum is after, I know its boosting 105-115 KPA (15PSI or so). And is -80 on Vacuum (I'm not sure what is on the USA boost gauge for the conversion) when I'm engine braking, stopped etc.

The bouncy idle improved dramatically after I drove it for a few minutes. It doesn't really bounce at all anymore. goes from 850-950 then to 900 one or twice at the most then smooths out after a stop and stuff.

Joel

 

The supercharger coupler is out, its a quick an easy change, so grab a new coupler. Zzp and I believe ottp both have them.

As far as the other sound for the motor, it could be the timing chain tensioner, they go out on a lot of cobalts, but luckily I have never had the issue. Another thing to check though is to make sure you are not low on oil. Does the sound happen when the car is first started/cold it at operating temp or during both? For some, it can be an oil issue to where not enough oil is getting to the top of the head and you hear noise for a little bit until the oil starts flowing, but I don't think that is your issue.

It's tough to say, but it could be the tensioner. As far as the s/c though, it IS the coupler, 100% for sure. Change it as soon as you can

 

I lied as to my vacuum. It's around 60-70.

How urgent is the new coupler? I'm supposed to go to work tommorow and a new one from ZZP/OTTP is at least ten days away with shipping to Canada. I wonder if anywhere here would have the parts.

I don't think it's the lack of oil tick, its consistent. I'm going to use a stethescope and see if I can pinpoint it. I hope it isnt the timing chain tensioner.

Also I'm starting to get idle bounce again. (Sorry for the million questions, this is my first F/I car and havn't had the cobalt for long. I knew my Rodeo inside and out haha.) I'm going to try reseating the injectors like it says on ZZP's site. But it only randomly happens and it gets pretty bad every so often. Vacuum doesnt change when it happens if that makes any difference.

Thanks for the help man.

Joel

 

I'm not sure what 60-70 is in hg on the US boost gauge, find out for me if you have some spare time. Like I said, on the US gauge, you should be sitting right around -20 at idle. As far as the coupler, you can still drive the car for the 10 days that you need to get back and forth to work, just keep your foot out of it and try to stay out of boost. Obviously the noise will be there until it's replaced, but you shouldn't cause any damage by continuing to run the car with a bad s/c coupler. A lot of members have a bad one for awhile and don't even know it lol.

As far as the ticking, it's really tough to say. Make sure you run 93 octane, and if you have an interceptor/tuner see if you are knocking at idle/boost. That could help you figure out if there is a bigger problem.

It might not be a bad idea to do a compression test. As far as the rpm's bouncing around, it's probably the tune, or something not installed correctly leaking air.

 

I'm sitting at -18ish at idle in the US conversion and -20 while engine braking going from the gauge to a conversion.

No worries about staying out of boost, its snowy as hell. I don't have an interceptor or tuner either, running 91 octane. Which is premium in Canada.

Joel

 

Wish I could be of more help Joel but it's tough to diagnose things, especially sounds over the net =/. Only thing I can suggest is having a mechanic look at it and go from there. Make sure it's a reputable shop, otherwise they will just spend your cash and laugh.

My only two cents would be to take the blower and intake manifold *if you have removed it recently* and reassemble it. Sometimes there can be slight boost leaks that cause jumping idles etc, but that still shouldn't cause the ticking. Either way, if you have spare time and you are bored, you can try pulling it off and putting it back on making sure everything is seated correctly.

 

Aight, I really appreciate the help.

I try to avoid mechanics and do the work myself on my vehicles but this one is totally new to me. Tommorow I'll reassemble it and see how it goes. Try reseating the injectors and looking for a vacuum leak and get a mechanic to take a look at the ticking. I wish I could get a sound clip, I'll try tommorow again to see if I can get one to pick it up.

I can't beleive my coupler went bad besides what the dealership must have done. I only have 50,000k (30,000 miles) on my car. It never once made the sound before they put the hub on. An auto store said they could get one within a couple days so hopefully I can get it in before I take off back to the rigs.

Joel

 

I know how you feel, GM did a **** poor job designing then damn thing. I have a pry bar that i pry between the supercharger and the tensioner to get it to go down and I put the belt on the supercharger last because i would rather not have my finger anywhere near the tensioner if that thing decides to pop up.

 

Werd

 

I know you managed to get the belt on but a lot of the suggestions for getting it on are weird to me. GM really says to use a 15mm wrench? In the J-body SC install guide GM says to use a 1/2" breaker bar and then proceeds to not tell you what exactly to do with it, I've discovered that its works best to just jam the breaker bar in between the top engine mount and the head and push down on the tensioner, then slip the belt on with your left hand.

 

383 stroker and infrared I know what you guys mean lol. I am on a stock belt with a over sized tensioner pulley and am using a 2.9 currently and it's still a pain every now and then. Speaking of which, I need to replace that sometime here shortly, I am sure it has a lot of miles on it now.

 

does anyone have a pic of where they placed the pry bar? all ive been doing is cracking the pulley haha, lucky i have a extra tensioner laying around.

 

Just use a 9/16 and bang it onto the tensioner with a hammer, best way I've found so far. I still can't get the Torx in the tensioner to work haha.

Joel

 

as the govinator would say "youre a girly man" use some man strenght

 

I've rounded mine off at 14mm.

I've punched the vc so many times....I should sue GM.

 

I've destroyed a $35 pulley and $60 belt doing this.

 

i used a o2 socket laying it on the belt then the handle of the wrench through the hoist loop to pust the tensioner down to get slack on the belt takes me thirty seconds

 

Easiest way to do it. I've taken my belt off tons and never had an issue

 

a guy made a video on it, if you can find it.

 

Take the zzp belt and throw it away!


First of all, the ZZP "Stage 2" belt is not a genuine GM belt - it is slightly under sized and is of extremely poor quality! My belt was had CHUNKS missing out of it after only 5000 miles and it was cracked everywhere.

I replaced it with a real GM Stage 2 belt from CrateEngineDepot and it has been perfect ever since. Went on easily too, because it's the correct length!


Good luck.

 

my zzp shreaded on me