I had a meltdown coming home the other day. Engine was making bad noises, now won't start. This is the 2200 OHV. My initial thought was a bad pulley, and the drive belt was shiny (glazed) on the outside so it looked like it was being worn and the battery was dead, like I had driven it a few miles with no alternator running. I've got the drive belt off, and pulled off the tensioner (pain the butt), and I've recharged the battery.. The engine just turns over, never starts. In my experience, an engine should start with the belt off, even if just temporarily. Is there something different about this car?
At this point I'm thinking the belt/tensioner was not the problem, maybe my timing chain broke or seized. Can anyone confirm my suspicions?
To my knowledge all cars start without the drive belt. Since it only drives the water pump, alternator, power steering pump, and possibly the air conditioning compressor this should have no effect on starting. In fact I think I remember in someone's build thread shredding a belt and driving home without one.
Next question everyone will ask, what noises did you hear?
If the chain was seized the car would not turn over.I think removing the timing chain cover for a visual would be smart.If the chain jumped a tooth that would explain it not firing imo.Next how old is your TC since the age/miles can assist in the determination of what happened in general.Tired after a long 13hr day.
Itll run fine without a belt until it overheats or the battery is too weak to run the car. I just recently threw my belt on a mis-shift.
Does it sound "normal" when you crank it? If you have a timing set issue it probably wont sound normal, itll have compression issues and wont sound right when you crank it. With an aftermarket cam, my motor ran when it was off by a tooth, it just ran horribly.
2200 isnt an interference motor so you're probably safe concerning valves vs pistons.
If it IS a timing set issue, luckily enough its fairly easy to pull that equipment off the motor with it still in the car.
You might try running a code scanner on it to make sure it isnt something like a sensor that happened to go bad at the exact same time or something silly that would prevent it from starting.
"A car just isn't a car without a little blood, sweat, and beers." -- Shadowfire
It's an '01, about 120k miles.
The original sound was a bit like ball bearing getting kicked around in a tin can. It eventually made a loud pop, then a screeching, then the car died. I never heard the pop and screeching sound myself, just the first sound.
I have a code reader, it reports nothing but an O2 sensor (which it was reporting before already). I've verified I have spark, and all the pulleys seem to spin freely.
Getting to the timing chain would be more hassle then it's worth, especially since I'm working in the driveway in the snow. I'm thinking this might be the end of the road for the ol' Sunfire.
Oh, cranking does sound normal to me. It sounds like it did when my fuel pump went out--turns over but never tries to kick over on it's own.
Makes me wonder if it is the TC guide that broke loose assuming this could duplicate the racket and or scenario.Over on another auto site a member working on a cobalt (unrelated brandsite) but the tc guide broke and the chain suffered missing the links but still intact.He replaced the guide and chain and up and going in a day.Just a thought.
