Hello everyone!

First of all i want to thank you all guys who have helped me with this problem! Thank you OrangeBird and others with identifying my problem !

I decided to share my experience in diagnosing my 2.8 V6 timing chain problem with pictures for fun!

Long story short, i was driving on the highway and my car stopped working. First things first i thought that the problem was in the ignition system. Let us begin!



This is how it began! So i checked if my engine was giving any spark. I saw that no spark was given (i just took one of the spark plugs and put it on my engine and cold-started it). Nothing, no spark. So then i thought that maybe the ignition coil has gone bad or the distributor. After that i bought a new dizzy.



Placed the new dizzy and DARN, nothing. Still the same, engine wont start. Okay so then i thought that obviously the ignition coil is the problem. Thanks to my friend i could test my ignition coil with his one to see if mine is bad. Nothing, no spark still. OOOOOH you know what i discovered then? THE ROTOR IS NOT MOVING. Yeah great, now i knew that the problem is not an electrical part, but a mechanical one, since a rotor must move because the camshaft turns the rotor, obviously now i was really sad, because this meant that the valves and camshaft might be bent.

Then i opened the oil can and was looking into the chambers to see if i turn the engine manually, if the camshaft is turning the valves. Nope valves were in place while i was moving the engine crankshaft. Okay now i know that the issue must be in a link of crankshaft - timing chain - camshaft. So now i decided to open the engine.

First things first, i removed all the air intake and radiator fan parts so i have some room.





Okay got some more room and then i removed the power to steering wheel and some other components.



Removed serpentine belt as well from the pulley.



Okay lets move forward!



Now i encountered a great engineered design flaw! Thanks for putting TORX bolts into the water pump so i cant get them out!!! PS! I tried everthing (not including drilling, because you know, nah).



Okay hmm, what to do yeah? So i decided to weld some bolts onto them, because i swear i couldnt get them out for 1 week (i had only free time after work).



OKAY! Finally got them out... but i broke a lil piece out of the timing cover, because that darn bolt was so tight there.





Okay now i have stopped currently and i will post some more pics in the future. Currently i broke the timing chain covers bolt "Cover", which i can probably fix by adding some active metal etc. Fortunately it has no function other than to hold in the bolt.

Other than that the next step is removing the harmonic balancer which i will do this or next week. What is great news is that when my engine stopped working, i didnt hear any breakin noise and looking into the chamber from the oil can hole, i didnt see any wear and tear. I have ordered a camera to check the pistons and see if they are okay. If they are okay and the only damage is a broken timing chain, then i will continue on with the repair of the timing chain. If not then i will do an engine swap. No point in wasting money in fixing pistons, camshaft who knows what. What is certain is that when i turn the crankshaft, the camshaft is not turning. When i get to the timing chain, i can turn the crankshaft manually to see if the valves are opening/closing. Only then i can remove the problem of a broken camshaft. If they move, then the crankshaft is okay and the only thing to check is broken valves/pistons.

Now some of you will say the valves and camshaft are broken, but hear this 2.8 V6 should be a non-interference engine, which should mean that the engine doesnt have broken pistons/valves if a timing chain breaks. I dont have any facts to prove, but looking around the internet, some say it is inter, some say its non-inter. One thing i can say is that i didnt hear any bangin or metal sounds when the car stopped which is good, but obviously i need to check the pistons and valves to be 100% sure. I will post my progress here when i get more info. Currently waiting to remove the harmonic balancer.

Why am i doing this? So in the future somebody can relate to this and see how to do it and what.

 

Hey Dr34m , I'm happy to see your getting along fine with your timing chain project . If at all possible , and I know it won't be easy due to your location , it would be far better to replace that timing chain cover since I've never seen a glued repair hold up over time in a similar situation . The aluminum expands and contracts at different amounts due to heating and cooling VS epoxy type "liquid steel" or "JB weld" type products . Of course I also know there is only SO much money a person has at any one given time and it's far too easy when I'm not paying the bill to go rattling off a list all kinds of parts I'd change along the way like even the harmonic dampener itself due to the rubber that holds it together now being +- 30 years worth of being dried out (and getting ready to let the outer weighted ring slip in relation to it's hub) .

 

Thank you OrangeBird for bringing my attention to that! Sorry for being an A** , i really am sorry. I now edited my text to thank you all .

 

Just getting into this on a 2.8. Like to see more pictures of the cover removal and replacement. Oil pan have to come off? Loosen bolts and pry it down?