Pontiac Repair: Timing chain for 96 sunfire, interference engine, leak down tester

Question
I have a 96 sunfire with a 2.2L.  It needs a new timing chain.  Is this an interference engine?  I know how to get to the old chain, how do I install the new one and make sure the time is correct?

Answer
Hi Jeremy:

Yes this is an interference engine so if the chani broke while the engine was running you more than likley bent some valves. If it broke while the engine was cranking to start you may get lucky and it didn't damage anything. If if broke while running take off the valve cover and take a look at the valve stems non of the rocket arems should be loose on the top of the valves if so the head has to come off. Also just because none of them appear to be bent they still could be take off the rocker arms and rent a cylinder leak down tester and hook it up to compressed shop air and air up each cylinder with the rocker arms off to see if ther is any air leakage past any of the valves. Lastly the timing on the egine is easy there are 2 marks on on the crank gear and one on the cam gear. allign the crank one to the 12:00 position and the cam can be at either 12:00 or 6:00 it doesn't matter. Good luck :}