Should the piston be up or down when a valve is closed?

Tiny
TERRY JEAN
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 CHEVROLET S-10
  • 104,000 MILES
My dad is replacing the timing chain on his truck and was told that when he is setting the timing that the first two valves should be closed. Is this true? If so should the pistons be up or down when they are closed? He would also like to make sure how the timing chain gets oil as it looks dry as if it had not been receiving oil. If you have any other valuable info or a referral for free online help, I would greatly appreciate your help.
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 AT 11:10 PM

9 Replies

Tiny
TERRY JEAN
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Please keep in mind that my dad is 65 years old and cannot afford a mechanic in this situation. Thank you!
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Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 AT 11:12 PM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
The piston shold be up i'd send where the chain is supposed to go but you didn't give the engine size
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Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 AT 11:37 PM
Tiny
TERRY JEAN
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Thank you! The engine is a 2.2L. He has it down to the chain, He just was not sure about the piston. However, any information will help to make sure he doesn't do something wrong and create a new problem.
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Thursday, October 6th, 2011 AT 12:29 PM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
Actually with that engine you really dont' need to worry about whether the piston is up or down, just realign the chain and put it back together and it should be ok. As long as a distributor if you have one wasn't pulled out. Then you need to retime it. Pic included of how it should look when aligning it.
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Thursday, October 6th, 2011 AT 12:36 PM
Tiny
TERRY JEAN
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Thank You so much. I hope this helps him. Hopefully this will get him moving on. I will let you know how it turns out. Oh, one more thing. Did you have any suggestions as to why the timing chain would have been dry?
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Thursday, October 6th, 2011 AT 1:19 PM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
Right at eh front of the case with teh chain off there may be a plug that has ahole in it. Make sure it's not blocked. It s going to be a tiny hole and you can run a fine wire through it. And change your oil land filter every 3000-5000 miles. Pic included, it should beby where it says main oil galley in pic.
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Thursday, October 6th, 2011 AT 1:57 PM
Tiny
TERRY JEAN
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
WE DID IT! Thank you so much for your help. We got it all in line and back together, and the truck is running. Now, I just have one more thing, I promise. Someone told me that it really didn't do much good to replace the timing chain without changing the tensioner pulley. In your experience, is this true?
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Thursday, October 6th, 2011 AT 8:15 PM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
They are either talking about an overhead cam motor which yours isn't. Or the tensioner pulley on the belt. If you replaced the belt and the tensioner still holds tension and doesn't make noise then wait until it goes bad.
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Thursday, October 6th, 2011 AT 9:01 PM
Tiny
HMAC300
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It the tensioner which is shown in thefirst picture I sent you wasn't damaged or had grooves worn in it then don't worry about it. But normally that one shold be replaced with the chain. If it's finished, drive it.
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Thursday, October 6th, 2011 AT 9:02 PM

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