Timming Chain ???

[kaycee]

Any way to check timming chain on a 2.4 L 97 G-A had to tow to a friends house and was wondering if there is an easy way to determine if the chain broke or??Daughters car, said she was driving down interstate and it lost all power and quit I get there and try to start but sounds freaking horrible maybe more than chain.A friend said this might be a throw away motor he used a specific name but can't remember now.Any easy way to find out what the hell broke?IT seemed like it wanted to start but was way out of time,I am ol school Chevy so know a little about Gm but this is a real PITA car.HELP WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED.

[DontPassTheFence]

well if you turn it on and the engine sounds like legos bouncing around in a basket, then you have a problem.

However, the problem is that the twin cam has a timing chain housing that is pretty well closed up. Its like 22 bolts to take off the housing then to check the timing belt.

But if it sounds that bad, its pretty much toast. Do a full teardown, and see if its worth saving (often times it isnt, I got a 2.4L longblock for about 800$ then put it together and back in my car in about a month, 40K now and its dandy. But I gotta tell you this is a finicky motor, especially the weak oiling system and the refusal to use any spark plugs but delcos.

[kaycee]

Yeah I thought someone was gonna say that dammmm we just paid it off .Well I guess this will be my last Pontiac we have had nothing but problems with this car. Will have to think about this, I appreciate the info

[VanishingImage]

if a timing chain/belt on any car goes,it can cause some major problems depending on how long it was running after the fact. Can screw up valves,cams,etc....

No real easy way other then take it apart(if your comfortable) or have a shop check it out.

[DontPassTheFence]

Hate to say this in the 2.4L forums, but if you just need a cheap/reliable car that will make it for a few years as long as its properly maintained, try out an older honda accord (SOHC usually last longer) or a 92+ Infiniti G20 - both of those are rock solid cars and can make it 300K miles more often than not. You also get the added bonus of not having the entire car fall apart at once since they are not the cheapest of the cheap in quality nor construction. 95-99 accord should do well (3K$ up to 9K$) or the 94-98 G20 (or G20t, which is not a turbo car, t stands for touring) runs about ~4K$ up to almost 10K$

[The Artist]

to check it out, remove at least the top set of bolts on the left hand side (as you are standing infront of the car). Behind that black cover is the timing chain. if you take the top half off, you should be able to see if the chain is broken without having to take it all off. If you have to take it all off, you will have to remove the pass front wheel, the wheel well, the harmonic balancer, and jack the motor up to get at a couple of the bolts... messing with all that is a huge pain the in ace for sure

[kaycee]

OK will look at it alittle more this week,We went and bought her a new car today a KIA Optima every where else (big 3) they seemed like there cars r gold :lol: And they gave us twice the warranty everybody else was trying to give us.I am a GM man from way back but DAMMM when it comes down to my $$$ a guy has to do what he can afford.So I'll see what I can find on the G-A this week.APPRECIATE YOUR HELP

[gtracing96]

When mine was starting to go, i thought it sounded like a tractor, and when i would start it the dash would bounce and vibrate really bad!!!they say you should replace it every 60k miles... btw any chance it can go after it was replace about 8,000 miles ago?

[kaycee]

Just because it is new dont mean it wont break,Is it a qualty belt or a cheepy.I am gonna remove head's tommarow pm and get a better view

[kaycee]

Well this is a pain in the a#$ timming cover is all 1 piece still trying to get cover off .I did get a peek at the chain and it still is in 1 piece,maybe a rocker broke and it jumped time.I have got all motor mount bolts off except for the 1 that mounts to motor guess u need to jack this sumbitch up a mile to get them 2 bottom bolts out.

[ENGGUY]

I wouldn't even try to do that with it in the car. Its a pita when it is out. There is like zero space to work in. Those designers just hate to leave another inch of clearance don't they?

[kaycee]

Well it can be done, found the water pump is toast and it collapsed a couple of lifters.I wasn't going to mess with it but had a friend that talked me into it.Thinking about replaceing the water pump &lifter put some gaskets in it and send it down the road.

[ENGGUY]

Sure it can be done. Just extreamly difficult.
And hope that the factory or who ever didn't over tighten the engine mount bracket bolts, and then you goof one up, then it has to come out, less you want to torch it.