1996 chevrolet cavalier 2.2 liter engine noise

dailydriver1

I recently bought a 96 Cavalier with 140,000 miles on it; the engine makes a lot of clatter, it sounds like a diesel. There is no detenation going on and it sounds like top end noise not rod nock. The noise is always there but increases once things warm up like after a few miles. I don't know if I have an oil starvation problem or not. The seems to run good, a bit of a rough idle.

gonogo

If it is around the front cover, it is the timing chain tensioner, common problem.

smokeeater9

it is not always the timing chain tensioner. i have a 97 with a 2.2 with 116,000+ on it and i have the same problem, but it isn't the timing chain tensioner, it's the lifters. when you first start the car, it's fine, after about 5 min then you start to hear the noise, and i have checked it out only because i had the same problem with my 93 duster.

mtruman

Hope you have taken care of the problem. I have the same engine in a S10 with 214k when the tension device disintegrated. It was running a little rough at idle like yours. Anyway it had a small piece of metal get caught between chain and a gear caused the flywheel key to shear and bent every valve. I can do the labor myself but still cost around 400 to fix a low dollar item that maybe should be replaced at 100k. I have had this engine completely disassembled and think it is well built on the inside. On a side note I also installed a cheap Hydrogen Cell and boosted my gas mileage tremendously.