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Problems/Service/RepairsIf you have a problem with your HHR, want a tip on repairing or performing a particular service to you HHR here is the place to post!
No, they only go out. Many people are under the impression the tensioners go bad when they have actually reached the end of their adjustment. Evidently the hydraulic tensioners have more travel, so sometimes replacing a mechanical with hydraulic stops the chain rattle. All VVT engines have the hydraulic tensioner, sometimes called "new style" only because they superseded the mechanical (non-vvt).
No, they only go out. Many people are under the impression the tensioners go bad when they have actually reached the end of their adjustment. Evidently the hydraulic tensioners have more travel, so sometimes replacing a mechanical with hydraulic stops the chain rattle. All VVT engines have the hydraulic tensioner, sometimes called "new style" only because they superseded the mechanical (non-vvt).
That's different. The ones we've seen would strip and not hold tension. Hyundai had some serious issues with them on their 1.8 and 2.0 liter engines. They had a hydraulic replacement upgrade.
Do they have problems with these ratcheting tensioners getting stripped teeth? I've seen it in other makes.
I think so. I had a balance tensioner that wasn't holding. If you pressed on it, it would slip randomly. May have been aftermarket, IDK. Replaced an "old style" timing tensioner that was noisy on startup only in a 2008 2.2 with the updated one, problem went away. Regret not disecting it. Maybe I still have it.
Somebody in the wayback did dissect the timing tensioners and posted pix.
I thought the balance tensioner was mechanical, I never looked at one.
I don't know how they could strip. The timing tensioner has lobes not teeth. Don't know why the balance tensioner would have enough action to.
"End of chain life" is why they seem to be malfunctioning. They can only extend so far.
Here is the backside of the balance tensioner, there are oil ports. The grenade pin thingy holds the piston until installation.
The tensioner I have is hydraulic, so I don't think it will have any issues. Getting the guide bolt tomorrow so I should be able to test everything tomorrow. I'll keep you guys updated if that solved the issue. Can I use a garden hose to flush the coolant or will it damage something? The only problem is that my garden hose is hard water and the water pressure is pretty high. maybe remove the thermostat and have the car run for 5 min? Are there any tools recommended to flush it better than just running it with distilled water and draining it afterward?
Potable water is fine for flushing and cooling, some people insist on distilled, GM says "drinkable". Yes remove t-stat.
I would remove t-stat then replace the t-stat housing. Then disconnect the top radiator hose and put the flushing water in the hose let the outflow go out the top of the radiator. When done remove lower hose and the pump drain bolt to get most of the water out (otherwise the water in the head will stay behind).
Let me understand this correctly - so disconnect the top radiator hose from the head, fill the head with water, and then have the output be from the hose I just removed? I don't need the car running for this right? The water pressure can just push it out?
put your hose into the hose that is attached to the head, let the outflow come out the top of the radiator. Don't worry about water pressure, normal operating pressure is 15 psi you won't get near that in a open system. If you put the water directly into the top of the radiator you might worry about damaging the coolant passages with pressure.
Finally got around to running the engine today and it sounds great again. Everything seems to be okay, just need to run the hose through it over the weekend and see if more oil is getting into the water.
