I thought ecotecs were nice...
Also they used to say the timing chains got better in 04, now it's 09?
Also they used to say the timing chains got better in 04, now it's 09?
Why so many replaced/bad 2.2 Ecotechs?
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Originally Posted By: CKN
What's on Craiglist used has no relation "to real life".
The used car salesman with plaid pants is "real life", eh?
What's on Craiglist used has no relation "to real life".
The used car salesman with plaid pants is "real life", eh?
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My sister used to have a 2001 Saturn L200. I did some research on common problems when she had it. There was a recall on it for timing chain problems. I told her she should take it to a dealer to make sure it was done because we weren't sure if the previous owner already did it. She never did take it to the dealer and she didn't have a problem with it, but then it got totalled at about 80k miles.
Originally Posted By: rjundi
The owners. The cavalier/cobalt and malibu are low(er) dollar cars and unfortunately they get treated poorly.
Exactly. You would think people with not much money to spend would take better care of their stuff, but it usually seems to be the opposite.
The owners. The cavalier/cobalt and malibu are low(er) dollar cars and unfortunately they get treated poorly.
Exactly. You would think people with not much money to spend would take better care of their stuff, but it usually seems to be the opposite.
The Cobalt was basically a disposable car, and got treated as such. A friend got a 2005 Cobalt coupe for $13k brand-new back in 2006. No cruise control, manual locks, crank windows, and stick-shift. He did maintain it and passed it off to another friend. It's needed a clutch from people learning stick-shift on it.
I bought an 06 Cobalt new with auto and cruise for 12K. It was actually a good car, but wanted something nicer. Had no issues with it.
Older ecotecs had some problems with cam chains and tensioners. Most of this was upgraded in 2002 and the tensioner was upgraded again in 2008.
I have an 06 2.2 ecotec and the chain started to make noise on start up for 1-2 seconds. This was at 135,000 miles. An upgraded $35 chain tensioners took care of that. 150,000 miles now and runs like a top. Change oil every 9,000 miles, one of the best engines I've ever owned.
I have an 06 2.2 ecotec and the chain started to make noise on start up for 1-2 seconds. This was at 135,000 miles. An upgraded $35 chain tensioners took care of that. 150,000 miles now and runs like a top. Change oil every 9,000 miles, one of the best engines I've ever owned.
I had a 96 Pontiac Sunfire 2.2 OHV. It was bought new by my then girlfriend, now wife. I sold it after 15.5 years and 170k miles. No issues other than piston slap when cold.
I have 09 cobalt 2.4L, 77k miles, no issues at all with this engine. I inherited this car from Grandparent who quit driving. It doesn't burn oil. I use syn about 9-10k miles.
I have 09 cobalt 2.4L, 77k miles, no issues at all with this engine. I inherited this car from Grandparent who quit driving. It doesn't burn oil. I use syn about 9-10k miles.
We had both Cobalts and Sunbirds in our stable during child rearing.
Boring, mundane little cars. But very reliable. Put tons of miles on 3 or 4 of them and got EXCELLENT service with young kids driving!
Boring, mundane little cars. But very reliable. Put tons of miles on 3 or 4 of them and got EXCELLENT service with young kids driving!
We have a 2010 Cobalt with the 2.2/auto. No engine or drivetrain problems to this point. Currently at 38800 miles.
So, we have 2002 and/or 2008/9 for the timing chain fixes?
When researching my Vue, I was told it was 02-03 2.2s that had timing chain issues:
"GM TSB 03-06-01-017 STATES "ALL TIMING CHAIN SERVICE KITS NOW AVAILABLE WILL INCLUDE AN OILER NOZZLE, A NEW DESIGN THAT WILL INCREASE OIL FLOW TO THE TIMING CHAIN UNDER LOW RPM OPERATING CONDITIONS".
This TSB was issued in June 2003 and does apply to the L2.2 2002-2003 VUE."
So far (knock on wood) my Vue has been pretty good (130k currently)
When researching my Vue, I was told it was 02-03 2.2s that had timing chain issues:
"GM TSB 03-06-01-017 STATES "ALL TIMING CHAIN SERVICE KITS NOW AVAILABLE WILL INCLUDE AN OILER NOZZLE, A NEW DESIGN THAT WILL INCREASE OIL FLOW TO THE TIMING CHAIN UNDER LOW RPM OPERATING CONDITIONS".
This TSB was issued in June 2003 and does apply to the L2.2 2002-2003 VUE."
So far (knock on wood) my Vue has been pretty good (130k currently)
my understanding is they went through several designs of the oiler to get it right. i have 03 one that works OK at 136,000 miles (mostly hwy by previous owners), but i'm tempted to do the fix as the car sees lots of slow city driving now that seems to be a problem here.
No real problems with them on Aleros.
I know of no particular problems with the mid to late 2000s Ecotec.
It's a solid engine that I'd own myself, if only it came installed in a car I'd actually want to have to drive.
I would imagine that most of the owners of these car aren't especially flush, which is why they bought them. Many of these cars that supposedly need engines may need only simple repairs.
It may be that Cousin Vern gave the current owner the bad news and Cousin Vern may know as much about diagnosing an igniton or fuel pump problem as my mother does.
So, lacking the bucks to have a competent tech diagnose the problem or to have a good yard engine installed if that's what's actually needed and needing to pay for something else to get to work, the hapless owner puts her (these are kind-of girl cars) Cobalt on CL hoping to get a few dollars out of it.
You'll also see a number of "needs engine" Hondas on CL because the hapless owner failed to have the timing belt replaced before it failed, along with a number of "needs engine" BMWs, because the hapless owner ignored the temperature gauge and cooked the engine after a minor coolant leak.
It ain't just abused Cobalts on CL.
It's every make and model of car you could imagine, along with a number of good machines of every make and model you could imagine.
In short, the Ecotec is no worse than most engines and is better than many.
It's a solid engine that I'd own myself, if only it came installed in a car I'd actually want to have to drive.
I would imagine that most of the owners of these car aren't especially flush, which is why they bought them. Many of these cars that supposedly need engines may need only simple repairs.
It may be that Cousin Vern gave the current owner the bad news and Cousin Vern may know as much about diagnosing an igniton or fuel pump problem as my mother does.
So, lacking the bucks to have a competent tech diagnose the problem or to have a good yard engine installed if that's what's actually needed and needing to pay for something else to get to work, the hapless owner puts her (these are kind-of girl cars) Cobalt on CL hoping to get a few dollars out of it.
You'll also see a number of "needs engine" Hondas on CL because the hapless owner failed to have the timing belt replaced before it failed, along with a number of "needs engine" BMWs, because the hapless owner ignored the temperature gauge and cooked the engine after a minor coolant leak.
It ain't just abused Cobalts on CL.
It's every make and model of car you could imagine, along with a number of good machines of every make and model you could imagine.
In short, the Ecotec is no worse than most engines and is better than many.
My 2003 ION 2.2 died before 100,000 miles, low compression at cylinder #3. Failed piston ring.
I'm used to only reading about ring failures on the supercharged ION.
I'm used to only reading about ring failures on the supercharged ION.
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
I know of no particular problems with the mid to late 2000s Ecotec.
well, that proves nothing, as some other people are well aware of the many problems and even made a special forum for just that:
http://www.ecotecforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?14-2-2-General-Problems
there are quite a few posts on tensioner issues, even on mid 2000's.
I know of no particular problems with the mid to late 2000s Ecotec.
well, that proves nothing, as some other people are well aware of the many problems and even made a special forum for just that:
http://www.ecotecforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?14-2-2-General-Problems
there are quite a few posts on tensioner issues, even on mid 2000's.
Originally Posted By: surfstar
So, we have 2002 and/or 2008/9 for the timing chain fixes?
When researching my Vue, I was told it was 02-03 2.2s that had timing chain issues:
"GM TSB 03-06-01-017 STATES "ALL TIMING CHAIN SERVICE KITS NOW AVAILABLE WILL INCLUDE AN OILER NOZZLE, A NEW DESIGN THAT WILL INCREASE OIL FLOW TO THE TIMING CHAIN UNDER LOW RPM OPERATING CONDITIONS".
This TSB was issued in June 2003 and does apply to the L2.2 2002-2003 VUE."
So far (knock on wood) my Vue has been pretty good (130k currently)
i did some more reading and while the oiler hole was fixed in 04+ ecotec, the chain tensioner was not fixed until 09 and they went through several designs before made one that works fine. The tensioner has a spring and oil pressure controlled piston. the seals would leak providing too little pressure in the old design. even worse, too much chain rattling could compress the tensioner and it would get stuck compressed (just like for the installation). the new tensioner has better seals and can't be stuck compressed again easily. the shape of the external bolt is changed, so one can easily see it one has the old or new tensioner.
So, we have 2002 and/or 2008/9 for the timing chain fixes?
When researching my Vue, I was told it was 02-03 2.2s that had timing chain issues:
"GM TSB 03-06-01-017 STATES "ALL TIMING CHAIN SERVICE KITS NOW AVAILABLE WILL INCLUDE AN OILER NOZZLE, A NEW DESIGN THAT WILL INCREASE OIL FLOW TO THE TIMING CHAIN UNDER LOW RPM OPERATING CONDITIONS".
This TSB was issued in June 2003 and does apply to the L2.2 2002-2003 VUE."
So far (knock on wood) my Vue has been pretty good (130k currently)
i did some more reading and while the oiler hole was fixed in 04+ ecotec, the chain tensioner was not fixed until 09 and they went through several designs before made one that works fine. The tensioner has a spring and oil pressure controlled piston. the seals would leak providing too little pressure in the old design. even worse, too much chain rattling could compress the tensioner and it would get stuck compressed (just like for the installation). the new tensioner has better seals and can't be stuck compressed again easily. the shape of the external bolt is changed, so one can easily see it one has the old or new tensioner.
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
I know of no particular problems with the mid to late 2000s Ecotec.
well, that proves nothing, as some other people are well aware of the many problems and even made a special forum for just that:
http://www.ecotecforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?14-2-2-General-Problems
there are quite a few posts on tensioner issues, even on mid 2000's.
Sure, and this is not unlike all of those Honda guys crying on their forums when they had the engine eat itself because they failed to change the timing belt before it failed, or all of those older Toyota owners on some forums crying about having their engines slduge enough that it killed them because they couldn't be bothered to use a more costly oil or to change it often enough, or the guys on the BMW forums crying about a ruined engine because they failed to change out the cooling system components known to fail well before 100K on some models and then also ignored the gauge to the right when driving.
The common denominator in all of the above is owner ignorance or neglect.
What role does owner ignorance and neglect play in these Ecotec timing chain tensioner failure problems you believe to be so common?
I've seen many of these engines run well up in miles by people who didn't treat them especially well.
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
I know of no particular problems with the mid to late 2000s Ecotec.
well, that proves nothing, as some other people are well aware of the many problems and even made a special forum for just that:
http://www.ecotecforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?14-2-2-General-Problems
there are quite a few posts on tensioner issues, even on mid 2000's.
Sure, and this is not unlike all of those Honda guys crying on their forums when they had the engine eat itself because they failed to change the timing belt before it failed, or all of those older Toyota owners on some forums crying about having their engines slduge enough that it killed them because they couldn't be bothered to use a more costly oil or to change it often enough, or the guys on the BMW forums crying about a ruined engine because they failed to change out the cooling system components known to fail well before 100K on some models and then also ignored the gauge to the right when driving.
The common denominator in all of the above is owner ignorance or neglect.
What role does owner ignorance and neglect play in these Ecotec timing chain tensioner failure problems you believe to be so common?
I've seen many of these engines run well up in miles by people who didn't treat them especially well.
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Do you know how many millions of these engines GM made? For the last decade and a half they have gone into almost everything GM has produced. The failure rate is probably less that .0001%
did you mean "into almost every small car GM has produced"? that would suddenly change your "many millions" figure and the % figure you pulled from your own a**. FYI, .0001% of a million cars is exactly one car, and you should know that if you paid any attention in any math classes in your elementary education.
Do you know how many millions of these engines GM made? For the last decade and a half they have gone into almost everything GM has produced. The failure rate is probably less that .0001%
did you mean "into almost every small car GM has produced"? that would suddenly change your "many millions" figure and the % figure you pulled from your own a**. FYI, .0001% of a million cars is exactly one car, and you should know that if you paid any attention in any math classes in your elementary education.
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