its not a cobalt but same motor. my friends moms 2004 sunfire has been makeing this really bad sound. so today i went looked at it and it didn't sound pretty. i have no clue what it could be. it was comeing from the pass side of the motor. heres a video

 

have you checked all the belts, on a previous car some debris bounced up into my engine bay on the highway and messed up my belt, sounded like that until I traded it in, well not exaclty like that, it wasnt as loud, maybe something is bent and getting hit by a rotating assembly

 

Well I had a noise that sounded just like that..from the sound of it it is beside the timing chain..If so on my motor it was the timing chain guide that let go inside...I ended up doing a motor swap,due to the fact that the motor was filled with metal shavings..But I would still let a profesional listen to it..

 

sounds like....shittyyyy

 

yea this weekend im going to take a better look at it at my house and see whats going on with it.

 

Sounds like youve probably got a shot timing chain tensioner.

As long as the chain doesnt break or jump time by more than a tooth or two you should be okay with just replacing the tensioner and chain. Youre obviously gonna need to look in there, and stop using the car till it gets sorted.

 

thats what i was gonna say..sounds like chain slap

 

beat me to it

 

so sounds everyone think its the chain? ill call her and tell it not to drive the car and get it to the shop this week. if i take the cover off could i fix it at my house?

 

Unless you've done this kind of work before, I wouldn't touch it.

If that timing gets off even a tooth, it's going to run like crap if it runs at all.

If you're feeling brave you can secure the cam gears with zip ties and then replace the chain and tensioner. But, a mechanic has the tools to get it done right, and that's what I would recommend.

 

damn....everybody beat me to it lol.....yeah it's timing chain slap...sounds like the tensioner is a bit loose...my dodge (back in the day) sounded like that right before the timing belt broke....

as far as pulling the valve cover off and fixing it, probably not considering the tensioner is at the front of the engine assembly...but you could take a peek to see if anything is amiss in the chain routing...to fix it you would have to pull the engine to look at it...but if the slap is too much you will have a engine full of aluminum shavings....


but before you do all that...make sure that all the belts are tensioned right and that they aren't flapping around.....best advice i can give

 

yea i tell her to take it to a garage and have it fixed. she thinks it broke because she didnt change the oil enought lol. if it snaps whats going to happen to the motor? will it lock the motor up?

 

whats a reasonable price to have the tensioner replaced at a shop (not dealer)? Cheaper to buy tensioner and then have someone do it? Reason I ask: I have no clue what that would cost.

 

Well at list price its easily $250+ dollars for a timing chain, tensioner and the needed bolts. You should be able to get them for well under $200 online. As far as labour goes, I would expect most shops to be charging about 7-8hours of time to do this. So shop rate times 8

$75/hr x 8hrs= $600 + $200 parts ~$800 or more.

 

thanks everyone for the help just alittle update. she took the car in last week and they did say is what the timing chain tensioner. so the car went in today and it was $230 to fix it. the car sounds like it should now and my friends mom is happy haha. thanks for the help!

 

Well I guess you lucked out and it didnt jump timing. $230 means they just got a new tensioner and threw it in their most likely.