Timing Belt Tentioner
 

Hi everyone i made a pot a couple weeks back about a high pitch tic noise and everyone one is saying its the timing belt tenioner but i dont know if thats it because the noise is loud on a cold start then it quiets down once its wamred up anyone have an idea if thats it its coming from the back of the motor near it but idk if thats what it is

Its probably the tensioner, just replace it. It's cheap

even though it goes away after warmed up? is it hard to do anything major i have to look out for?

Timing chain tensioner. Simple fix, had to do it on mine a little while ago. Get the revised part from CED or your dealer and a 32 mm socket. The bolt is on the firewall side (exhaust side) towards the front (pass side) of the engine. You'll feel it, it's pretty high up. Unbolt the old one, slide in the new, tighten it up. You're good to go.

make sure ur timing chain doesnt jump when taking the old tensioner out, some people use zipties for extra safety to make sure they dont hop a tooth

chech your exhaust manifold or header to make sure it isent loose causing an leak it can sound like a tensioner going bad

This.

okay thanks everyone but what exactly do i zip to to make sure it doesnt move? and dont i need to take the valve cover over and everything or do i just unscrew it and put the new one in

some say to take the valve cover off, i didnt when i did mine, i just unscrewed the old one, put the new one in and torqued it down. theres a few people on here who have done it this way also.

put the zip tie through a hole in the intake cam sprocket at about 7 o'clock, and wrap it around the chain below the exhaust sprocket.

oh okay is it ruffly hard getting the old one out or does in just unscrew? and do you have the torque specs for it?

yea, it just unscrews, new one goes in, the torque spec is 55 ft. lbs.

thank you did you have any problems with the timing chain itself did it jump a tooth? if so how did you hold it down?

nope, i just shut the car off, took the old tensioner out, and put the new one in. its really simple, i was sweaten when i did mine but you will be fine.

i pulled out my old tensioner and put the new lnf one in without keeping tension on the chain as so many here suggest to do. i was weary about the procedure, but it sounded like enough people have done it. when i tried to start the car, it skipped timing and bent the intake valves. i had to pull the head and get it remachined with new valves. it cost me $500 in parts.

I would also suggest rotating the engine so the cams are in the resting position. this ensures there isn't any valve spring force trying to rotate the cam.

Okay now I'm a little weary after hearing that so maybe I'll do the zip tie thing

anyone know the proper way to do it because i dont want to chance my timing chain slipping and resetting my pistons and messing my head up

you cant get the exh cam in its relaxed position

well in that case i would just get them as close as you can. there will be a lot of force if the cam is contacting the roller just past the nose of the lobe. just get it as close to the base circle as you can.

how do i know what cam is the intake cam and which one is the exhaust cam ive never taken a look at my cams or even taken the valve cover off so im kinda knew with cam thing

apparantly you have never timed an ecotec the exh cam is what loads the chain when you time the engine both cams are in the relaxed position you put the gear and chain in the intake cam and then to do the exh cam you have to rotate the exh cam backwards into the cam gear the cams base circle has nothing to do with it

the intake cam is on the intake side of the head the ex cam is on the ex side of the head

i replaced the head. somehow i managed to do that without timing the engine apparently. there are positions you can put the cams at which will result in less spring force than others. that is the point im trying to get across here. if the spring force is too high it might snap the zip tie when teh tensioner is removed. as long as you use a heavy duty zip tie, there really shouldnt be any problem with the position of the cams though. just a little extra safety when there is less force.

good for you but with the chain on there is no where that the chain will have less tension on it if the engine jumps time when you replace the tensioner that is an big indication that the chain is shot and should be replaced if you dident replace chain then the tensioner is going to be run at full extension and cant do its job if you replace the tensioner by your method and the problem still persist thats anoth sign of a worn out chain or a weak pump if you replace both and the problem is still there then you need to look at the oil pump not being able to supply enough pressure to keep things tight there are reasons why shit goes bad sometimes just swapping parts will fix it sometimes it fixes it for a short while but in the end scheme of things most people never figure out the root cause of the initial problem i would say that alot of the tensioner problems have underlying problems that never get fixed they just bandaid it and go on

^^^this. Once again yesterday I changed a tensioner, plug and play. Read Mr.B's post. Punctuate as you feel the need.