Chev Caviler 99

My car has a real bad taping noise I was told that It could be my timing belt.In which I just replaced not even a year ago.I was told that a tooth could be off or it could be broken.I was wondering what does that sound like to you.If you could please get back with me on this matter I would be very grateful.Thank You.

The first step is to diagnose as best you can and where the sound is coming from and what conditions it occurs under, such as I start the engine and I hear it, or I put the car in drive and as soon as I start moving I hear it ,and it ie is associated with engine rpm, or it is associated with speed of the car.

Okay the car start making the taping noise soon as I stsrt it up so if you think its the belt would the test show that when my car get tested or it won’t because its the belt.Can the machine identify that or no.

I do not know what machine you mean, but it sounds like a valve noise at first guess, how long since your last oil and filter change?

A few weeks ago you think it could be a valve cover gasket the machine im talking about is the diagnoising machine that they put your car on to see whats wrong with it. Sorry if some of the words are spelled wrong

The first thing to do would be to check the oil level. Low oil level will certainly cause a loud tapping noise. Which engine does this car have? Neither one of the engines available in the Cavalier in 1999 had a timing belt. The Quad 4 (as it was at one time called, now just 2.4 OHC) has a rather long timing CHAIN which has a tendency to fail if the engine is neglected. Cause of failure is normally lack of maintenance, resulting in engine sludge restricting flow of oil to the chain. Without oil, the chain dries out, wears out quickly, starts making a lot of noise, then breaks and bends all or most of your valves. If it’s your timing chain, an engine flush may help, along with another timing chain replacement, but it could be more economical to look for a decent junkyard motor for this car. It probably wouldn’t cost much more to replace the engine with a used one than it would to replace the timing chain. They’re a pain in the rear to service.

Well I just got my oil change and I have a 2.2 in my car im just very undecided to what I want to do I’m not trng to put a engine in this car I’m still paying for this car and thats a bit much do you think its worth putting a engine in it it now has 94 thousand miles on it.

Fortunately for you, your car does not have the 2.4 I was talking about, so that rules out most of my previous post. I’m still puzzled as to how somebody thinks it’s the timing belt and how you had the timing belt replaced when your car does not have a timing belt. Your car has a timing chain, and I have only ever seen a timing chain fail on a 2.2 once, and it was on a 1990 that was abused terribly by the owner. You are probably either hearing noise from the lifters or fuel injectors. Fuel injectors on some of these cars can be pretty loud, and not indicative of a problem. If it’s lifters, you may want to try an oil additive to quiet them down. Any decent mechanic should be able to listen to the noise and tell you what it is.

As for that timing belt, how much did that service cost you? I’m trying to figure out if you had your timing chain and gear set replaced (a few hundred dollars) or your serpentine belt replaced (less than a hundred dollars). If it’s a mechanic who is telling you that you have a problem with your timing belt, run the other way. The engine in your car has been around since the early 1980s and has NEVER had a timing belt.

There is no machine that will tell you why your engine is making a paticular noise, it still takes a person to listen to the noise to tell what it is. There are some tricks to help you hear the noise better or things to do to isolate the noise but no machine to tell you what the noise is caused by.

I bought my car from jd brider in cincinnati and thats what they told me I had to get replaced was my timing belt see Im very cautious with my car I take of it I get it maintance when Im suppose to so thank you for giving me some ideas about what it could be.