How to get back into the right timing when chain slips/breaks without causing damage to the motor

 

Watch this video. Really good job they did. There is a shim over the crank gear, remove it with a pick or the corner of a razer (box cutter style) to reveal the timing dot. Dont forget to put in back on when you go to reassemble! You will have to remove valve cover, front cover, remove and reset ( or better yet replace ) tensioner and exhaust cam sprocket. Camshaft bolt and harmonic damper bolt are torque to yield so they will need replaced.

 

Not all Ecotecs have the shim. Mine does not. If your timing slipped or chain broke you definitely need to do the full timing chain kit and replace all guides. Setting the timing is easy, there is a dot on crank sprocket, "Exh." indicator on exhaust cam, and "Int." indicator on intake cam. The timing chain will have painted links that you align with these three components. I like to activate the tensioner after setting the timing because I don't want to risk skipping time of first start up.

 

I just release the tensioner before I thread it in, always worked for me and no chance of it not actually being released.

 

I thought the problem with this was that the tensioner has different notches which act as slack adjusters that don't allow the tensioner to compress as much once it extends far enough to slide onto the next notch. I assumed this is why you aren't supposed to do that but don't know for sure.

I use a drumstick with a plastic tip to reach down and give the guide a whack so it activates after installing.

 

Thousands of miles and no issues, even did other peoples cars that way too.

 

Only issue I would see is if you had a new chain that wasn't stretched. The lack of slack could cause excessive load on the tensioner against the chain which I could see causing accelerated wear on your tensioner plastic bearing material. Not necessarily something you would notice the side effects of. I still wouldn't recommend doing it that way if you can help it.

 

Pretty sure powell recommends doing it that way. To each his own.

 

I lean on the side of caution as it's not hard to activate once installed. I don't think GM would have included a component feature that adds significant manufacturing cost if it had no benefit. Maybe it is a useless feature, but my thinking is why take the chance?