Timing Chain Replacement

[BobGTahoe]

97 Tahoe 5.7L stopped on the freeway. Cranks strong, appears to have spark and fuel. When cranking, there is occasional popping out the exhaust.

Suspecting timing chain slipped. Any way to tell?

Does anyone know of a good DIY on replacing timing chain?

Thanks.

 

[lesterl]

Timing chains are a piece of cake, I wouldnt want to do one on the side of the road tho...

Does the engine seem to crank faster?

Plugs wet?

Sounds like what happened on my 87 GA the skipped a couple teeth on the TC.... new timing set and I was in business. Usually they skip when the engine is shut down or started tho......

 

[BobGTahoe]

The engine seems to crank normally, just an occasional burp while its cranking.

I haven't pulled the plugs yet, I'll do that on Saturday probably.

I'm assuming that you have to pull the water pump, etc. from the front of the engine. Can it be done with the radiator still in place?

 

[lesterl]

You dont need to remove the radiator. Will have to pull fan shrouds tho....

 

[milehighaz]

I used the ECi electronic manual and it was pretty straight forward. Will need a harmonic balancer puller though.

 

[boomboom0558]

I had the same problem. Shut off at 65mph on the hwy. Timing chain was off a tooth. Replaced the chain, setting gear timing marks at cam gear- 6:00, crank gear-12:00. Zeroed distributor out to the (8) on the dist. housing and cannot get this to start no matter what. I have 62 pounds of fuel pressure with key on. It sputters like it wants to fire and then at times kicks back through the intake. I have 12v at the pump, cleaned up the ground, nothing. I replaced entire spider injector setup, pressure regulator, plugs, timing chain. The engine floods from cranking, plugs soaked. I heard that some of these engines the cam gear is set at 12:00? Anyone ever heard this? Any help is greatly appreciated. This is my personal vehicle and it has been laid up for a week now. It has to be something really stupid. Oh and computer shoots zero codes lol. VIN is 1GNEK13R2XJ540784. 1999 Tahoe 5.7 vortec.

 

[lesterl]

You shure you got it perfectly in time (pix of gearsetup...)

 

[smackleboom]

Just did timing chain and gears on my 99 Tahoe cam gear and crank gear dimple should be 12oclock each.........6 o'clock on the cam is exhaust stroke I almost made the same mistake but I still turned the engine to make sure the dots did connect