Timing Belt or Timing Chain
 

Quick question for anyone. I am getting the 2007 2.4 SS Sedan and I would like to know if it has a timing belt or a timing chain. I am hoping it's a timing chain.

Pretty sure its a chain

It's a chain no ifs ands or buts about it.

Thank God! OK. Now, they never have to be replaced or etc and they rarely break/snap, right? Sorry to be an engine idiot, but I don't know it all. I am a regualr driver and I don't beat the hell out of my cars.

Thanks

They are designed for zero maintenance and it is rare for them to snap. But if somehow it ever does, the engine is toast.

it is a chain and the tensioner for said chain is garbage in these cars....

i dont know if all of our cars use the same but i had to have mine replaced within 4 months. Sounded like a ticking bomb

How long did it take from when you heard the timing chain ticking to when you took it in. What are the tell tale signs that the tensioner is crappy.

Anyone else have this issue?

After all those years of Quad 4s you would have thought they could get the tensioners right.

The sure fire way of knowing something is wrong with the tensioner is the sound. It ticks like a time bomb and gets worse when you turn the car. Also it ticked for about a week and a half until I took it in.

It was covered under warranty right? How long were you without the car?

The timing chain tensioner on the Ecotec is actually very easy to replace. It was part of a genious design actually. While the unit itself has average durability (meaning one out of like a hundred might go bad), servicing the unit takes a half an hour. It can be removed and replaced as a complete unit from the outside of the engine, without any other part removal required. And yes, it is covered under the vehicle warranty.

so it's nothing to be overly concerned about then?

i wouldn't be. honestly, even belts aren't that big of a deal. people have this idea where timing belts are the worst thing ever created....

as a rule, they're not that bad, at least on four bangers. it can be a little scary re-timing the engine if you've never done it before, but honestly, it's generally not THAT horrid.

Thanks guys, you rock!

That's what I was hoping to hear. This is a lesson they probably learned from the Quad 4.

i think i have a chain tensioner problem on my old 2.2 cavalier, its been making an egg beater noise for the last 3 years. It only does it when the engine is warmed up though. Do you guys think i do have a loose chain?

No. It would be noisy all the time. Egg beater?

yeah, you know those old mechanical egg beating whisks that nobody uses anymore.

http://www.discountcooking.com/shop/...egg-beater.jpg