That is what the mechanic told me. I was driving about 30mph when the car decided to stop accelerating. I got it to a parking lot a block away and had it towed home. The car would turn over but not start, and it didn't just stop turning over immediately when I turned the key off, it just kind of slowed down and faded. To be clear, I only paid him to diagnose the problem, not open the engine up and look at it. The only code the car is shooting out is one saying the AC refrigerant pressure is low. And it isn't the ignition coil or the coil pack.

I have had no symptoms whatsoever of a bad timing chain. Not one. The battery has always been a little wonky, but other than that she's a good car, and now I am afraid it is a useless hunk of junk. She's up in miles (just hit 200,000) but there should have been some sign.

Obviously I want someone to give me a second opinion, or say "the timing chain going out while you were driving doesn't necessarily mean your engine is destroyed" but before I pay my guy 700 bucks to replace a timing chain, I would like to hear from the forum.

Ecotec 2.2

 

You are just coasting along at 30mph and the chain jumped time? What was your foot doing when it happened?

 

What year ion?
Oil change interval?

If the engine is rotating in free spin mode after you let go of the key, to me that says the flywheel is still spinning (engine is still rotating.)
This is only going to happen If the crank has no impediments to continuing to rotate. Meaning timing chain no longer coupling it to the cams, and little to EcoTec pression in the cylinders because enough of the valves or pistons or rings are damaged that there is no compression pushing back on the pistons.

Easiest way to check is to do a loan a tool from AutoZone or similar for a compression tester. Read up on the internet concerning the correct way to do a compression test. There are many ways to do it not right and end up with useless crap for measurements.

I suspect you will have several cylinders with zero compression and others probably in the '20s and 30s. Service limit is usually around 170 or 180 PSI. If nothing else, you can shine a bright light down into each cylinder and look for carnage.

There's a period in the early to mid 2000s during which the ecotec engines were built with some type of timing related deficiency that would cause premature failure of the timing chains. Andy knows more about that. Perhaps he'll chime in once you post the year of your ion..

 

Derf: Someone else told me to do a compression check, too. Is the flywheel spinning a bad thing? The car is a 2006 Saturn Ion. I know my mechanic is coming over tomorrow morning and I already bought the timing chain kit. My plan is to pay him to replace the timing chain and hope for the best because there is nothing else I CAN do. This is why I am hoping to get more information before he gets here. He told me that if my car had been a Honda or something, the engine would be 100% toast, but that these ecotec engines are built to last and there's a chance it is NOT toast.

Grcauto: When the car started acting up, I of course tried to accelerate because one time the battery cables came loose and the car was doing the same thing, but it acted like the transmission was going out. Turned out the battery cables had gotten loose because the bolt holding the battery in place had come loose, and it was jumping around back there. When it became obvious the car wasn't going to accelerate, I just coasted it into a parking lot that was luckily there, braked, and pushed it the rest of the way in after getting some help from strangers in the parking lot.

I love this car. I got an oil change about five months ago. NONE of the symptoms of a failing timing chain. The thing was purring like a kitten.

Mind you, my mechanic says he's not guessing and that it is definitely the timing chain, but he hasn't opened it up yet because I can't pay him until tommorow morning. Why aren't all engines non-interference engines anyway?

 

How many miles between oil changes? That's what I was looking for.

When you turn the key to crank, a small gear from the starter pushes out and engages with the teeth on the flywheel. The starter motor spins and this in turn rotates the flywheel at the back of the engine. Leaving out all of the details, the engine internally begins to rotate. The crankshaft turns, the cams work the intake and exhaust valves, the fuel injectors supply fuel, air comes in through the intake manifold, and the ignition module provides spark.

Under normal circumstances, the cylinders will begin firing and the engine will run normally, because each time the air gas mixture is compressed, a spark is delivered, the air and fuel combust which thrusts the piston down. This imparts rotational motion to the crank shaft. All the other pistons are also indirectly connected to the crankshaft, and the sparks are timed to maximize transfer of energy from the combustions to rotation of the crank.

The camshafts work the intake and exhaust valves at the top of each cylinder. Everything is timed so that things don't collide. And again to get the best bang for your buck for combustion. This is where the timing chain comes in. It links the camshaft to the crankshaft motion so the two cannot get out of time relative to one another. The valves are worked open and closed by the camshafts.

When you turn the key to crank, all of the above starts in motion. When you release the key, everything should stop moving, because there is a large mass, all of those engine internals, that no longer have the starter's help to rotate. These motions and their timing relative to one another are all PHYSICALLY linked together directly or indirectly by the timing chain.

So the flywheel should stop dead as soon as you release the key from crank position if everything is connected up the way it should be. If you release the key from crank and the engine itself keeps rotating, this would indicate that there is no significant mass coupled to the flywheel and therefore no significant mass coupled to the crankshaft.

Yes, the pistons and connecting rods are still there and connected, but the crank is no longer physically linked to and driving the camshafts if the chain is not there, so the crank can more or less spin independently of the cams, what's the pistons going up and down. As long as the pistons don't collide with the valves, which, when the chain breaks, are no longer moving synchronized in time with the rotation of the crankshaft. There is a very very slim chance that none of the valves got crushed, but it all likelihood, some of the valves got bent by the pistons.
This of course means they will not open and close so If you measure compression on each cylinder, if there is a valve or more than one valve on a cylinder that has been bent, compression cannot build in that cylinder and you get a reading of zero. There are other ways to end up with zero compression in a cylinder but we're not going there for now.

This is the fastest way to take a snapshot of the engine's overall health without doing anything besides removing spark plugs and cranking the engine. Best to do with two people but if the hose to the tool is long enough you can lay the gauge on the windshield facing into the car, hook it into the cylinder, and watch the reading yourself as you crank. If an how the needle moves can also provide information regarding what is going on or not going on.

You still did not provide the year, only the engine. Please provide that.

I believe whenever you change the timing chain on an ion, it's best to also change the water pump since it is driven internally by the timing chain, especially if it is the original. I doubt this would be a $700 job.

I love my 95 SC2 to death, but as sooner or later something will give out. Not necessarily because I did or did not do something, but because mechanical parts wear, mechanical parts fail, electrical parts fail, and depending on your situation, it may or may not make sense to put additional dollars into the vehicle. Every case is different because everyone's situation is different.

Post back with the diagnosis before committing to doing anything. THAT IS HOW WE CAN BEST HELP YOU.

There's a tiny chance that the spinning down sound you hear is the starter motor not retracting on the way back and you hear the gear spinning freely, but that usually only happens when the starter fails. It is at a much higher frequency. then the rotation of the engine

 

He clearly states in post #4 that it's a 2006 Ion, derf. You need to get some sleep, my friend. You did an excellent job on the description of how things work and what could have happened.

 

I did tell you what year it is. It's a 2006 Ion with a 2.2 engine. I live in a relatively small town. The furthest I ever drive is 15 miles and back to and from band practice. I've had it six years, and it had about 170,000 miles on it when I bought it. It *just* cracked 200,000. It's not even at 201,000. I change the oil every six months

"There are other ways to end up with zero compression in a cylinder but we're not going there for now."

I had a Mazda Protege whose head gasket got damaged from overheating. I know you can lose compression from that. The car I have now replaced that one. My car has only overheated once, and that was a while back. I got that (busted hose) fixed immediately.

 

You will need to replace all the valves as well as the chain kit. With 200,000 miles I would look at the entire engine, not just what made it quit running. I have several 2.2’s fail with no warning, the chain just snaps. What kind of shape is the rest of the car? Can you afford to make car payments again? Used cars are expensive and you never know what you are getting. I have a Cobalt that I bought with a bad chain and I am pulling the engine for a complete overhaul at 165,000 miles. The car drove to work and failed upon restart mid day.

 

My car is paid for outright. I'm just going to wait and see what my mechanic says.

 

I bought one 2.2 with low compression on all cylinders. 40-50 psi, the chain had stretched and slipped on the sprockets. Since I had no cylinders at 0, I lined up the sprockets and got compression back to above 150. I replaced the necessary chain, sprockets and guides and flushed the sludge out of the engine. This engine looked like it had missed many oil changes and was full of sludge. After flushing it clean it came back to life. I changed the oil at 500 miles a couple times and it finally cleaned up and did not burn oil. I ran this car for a year before selling it. It is still around town. This has been four years now.