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I've googled this question about the ecotec engines and found a lot dealt with wear do to oil change intervals, quality of oil used and some about early production parts that were of a poor design.
One thing I think might cause wear faster also is a vehicle with a manual vs automatic, do to the rpm fluctuations between gear selection.
The other is just the mileage on the engine.
I haven't looked into other types of engines that use chains that are of similar design. Wonder if they too are in the same boat as the HHR engine is.
I think the chains generally hold up for many miles. Early failures appear to be from the guides and tensioners.
Also the design of the long chain is suspect. Seems like the tensioners may have been under-designed as far as keeping the slack out.
They might be, the most common problem I’ve seen when I’ve heard that noise in an Ecotec is broken front timing chain guide, or the upper bolt.
So, the chain doesn’t really break there is enough slack on it it jumps a few teeth and takes out the valves.
That little flimsy upper bolt has been the culprit several times
This is why I stress , if you have P0016, stop trying to start the engine.
This is why , when I replace the timing chain I use one of those bolts in the head instead of that flimsy bolt in the upper hole of the front guide.
Sweetie’s 2003 , with 200,000 miles on it , has the original chain, new style tensioner and one of this fancy bolts.
I installed that at 75,000 miles.
Earlier Ecotec engines in the HHR had issues with the oil spigot also.
I believe that little threads on guide bolts are susceptible to over torque and stress, the bolt I used came with ARP bolts
I’ve changed 20 to 25 timing chain sets on Ecotec’s these are the most common problems I’ve seen
So what I've read so far is older engines have the most "chain" problems due to parts. At what year did all the better(ungraded) parts come from the factory?
Blue, do you have a shop? That's a lot of chains problems you fixed.
The other thing that comes to mind is. If the small parts fail and the chains don't. When this problem does happen just replace what is broken and not the chain or sprockets. If the chain does jump that much that the sprockets are damaged, you have more problems with the engine than just up front.
The chains I've replaced where link style which did wear the sprockets. When the parts where replaced with a double roller set there was less of a problem. If those chains weren't lubricated properly, that's where the problems started.
A double roll timing chain like on a SBC or BBC it to wide to fit.
There is no real Year cut off when parts improve.
The sprockets on the VVT 2.0 or 2.4 and the 2009 to 2011 2.2, are different then the sprockets in the Cloyes 9-4201S kit. That’s why the 9-4201SX kit doesn’t include those cam sprockets.
I’m disabled now, but did repair work for friends and family, I’m one of those guys who can’t stand seeing someone pay thru the nose to incompetent shops, or sell their cars for next to nothing because they don’t understand what’s required to fix it.
Could it be because of the way you Drive and the Engine Maintenance Protocol you follow ??
I have often wondered how much stress the late model Stock 2.4L will take if it is Tromped on often using Mobil 1 and 92 Octane fuel.
Silverfox
Not sure...
I do regular maintenance, I do use sny Mobil. I always let the car warm up for a bit before stomping on it, but its a daily driver, sees lots of kms on the highways and gets lots of spirited driving here and there
02-12-2018, 05:58 AM
