alright guys about 2 weeks ago my cavalier started making a ticking sound. not loud enough to be a rod so I thought lifter tick but the lifters are non adjustable. So after taking the valve cover off my friend and I realized the timing chain was loose, thought maybe that was slapping against the valve cover. After so research we found that the 2.2 Ecotec motor has had problems with the tensior for the timing chain to fail allowing the chain to come loose. We then tore the car down and put in a new timing chain kit. the kit came with new sprockets for both cams and the lower gear, a new tensior, new oiler, new chain, and all three new guides. After installing the new chain the car will not run right. It acts like it is not geeting enough fuel but when we can get it to run on its own but it sounds real rough. So we double checked our timing 4 time and each time the marks came back right on spot, we check compression in all 4 cylinders and all 4 where around 150 psi, it has fuel pressure, and it has spark. We are completley lost on why this car will not run correctly. Any ideas would be very helpful. The car only has 91,xxx miles on it and is a 5 spd manual it anybody needed to know. Thanks guys.

interesting. the problem started/got worse after you tore it down. is there a chance you have a vacuum leak somewhere and didnt install everything to torque specs?
Im about to do the same on my motor (04 ecotec) of 182000 miles that ive recently supercharged. im getting a tick now that i havent had before and a misfire CEL on cylinder 2 but it doesnt appear to effet performance (only idle).

before your repair job when it was just ticking, it wasnt acting up performance-wise right? I know its a pain but you may wanna tear it apart again and reinstall the top end, make sure you have a good seal. valve cover is easy.
Also, I think the timing issue was the 02 ecotecs more so and not the 03+, but I could be wrong.




04 Cav. 2dr. 5spd. My DD. 'Nuff said.

Yeah before we tore it apart it had no preformance problems just the ticking problem. But since we replaced the timing chain the ticking has gotten worse and louder, it also has a knocking sound now. The car will run put as soon as you hit the gas pedal it just dies.

Did you ever resolve this issue? I have the same problem and am looking for a solution.

any CEL? what is your fuel pressure