JohnnyHydro

My girlfriend's 2004 cavalier w/ 2.2 ecotech started overheating a few weeks ago. First thing I noticed wasslightlyfan wasn't kicking on. Of course as it goes with these cars her speedo, gas and temp cmguage doesn't work. So first I changed the temp sensor because the only time the fan would come on was when it was overheating and the key was turned off or if the ac was on. That didn't help so next unchanged the thermostat. Drove the car after that but only for short trips with the ac on to keep the fan on because it would get too hot. Through all this I noticed the lower rad hose never seemed to get very hot and there didn't seem to be much pressure. The water pumps are fairly cheap so I decided to change it since it has 100k miles anyways. When I went to drain the coolant I open the petcock and to my dismay nothing came out... Oh btw before all this I noticed the radiator never seemed to get hot. So I took off the upper and lower hoses and flushed it for about 30.minutes. nothing ever came out of the petcock. The rad is the most expensive part so wishfull thinking was possible . So I got the new pump and the special tool to hold the timing chain sprocket and took on the joyful task on the 2.2.
Everything went as well as it could I guess the most pain was getting the bolt holes of the 2 sprockets lined up. Put everything back together minus the t stat (for better flow to flush) and fill completely with 3 part water 1 part coolant mix since I won't do a flush for a couple days . When I start it there's noticeably louder noise coming from the timing chain area. It's midnight by now and I have a 15 minute drive home... So I take for a little test run. It seems to run fine actually seems to be more responsive and have more pick up but something doesn't seem right as well as a slight whining noise when I push the gas. I also notice a bit of white smoke or steam coming from the tail pipe as well as the exhaust seems to be getting excessively hot as I could hear it crackling from cooling so rapidly when I turn the car off. I've never heard this before. At this point I'm to tired to do anything about it so I drive it home. On the drive power seems to be ok but the rpms were reading higher than it should for the speed or the sound of the engine.
Is it possible the timing got changed ever so slightly so that exhaust valves are opening to early? Could this cause noise in the timing chain? Oh and there is a vibration coming from the engine also. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cliff notes: after water pump replacement in 2004 cav.
Noise from timing chain area at idle, whining noise when rpms increased
White smoke/ steam from tailpipe
Engine vibration
Exhaust gets excessively hot
Rpms seem higher than normal when driving .
Could timing have gotten Changed resulting in the exhaust valves opening to early? ( yes I used special tool)
Also I left out thermostat to do a coolant flush.

dbodkin

I have a 97 2.2 cavalier and my timing chain just broke,... If you took off the timing chain and gears you have to have it lined up exactly on the right tooth, no further advanced or behind if you don't have the blueprints you can get them at the library in the Sheltons book,... YOU DO NOT WANT TO TURN OVER THE KEY AND TRY TO START IT IF YOU THINK THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE YOU DO NOT HAVE IT LINED UP RIGHT DEAD ON,...This could bend your valves and your gonna be worse off then before. Crank it by hand. Also we had to take the intake valve cover off for something and put it back on but noticed the rpms were were too high and it was so hot the manifold was glowing red, turns out the INTAKE GASKET was bad that fixed the hotness and the rpm problem, it still idles rough but runs,...