GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

2004, base, ~300K mis.

Trying to pin down the source of an incessant oil leak, I came across a post saying to check the o-ring on the timing chain tensioner on the back of the engine block. There sure was a ton of oil around there, so I'm guessing that was the bulk of it.

In installing the part back with the new o-ring, I must have overtightened the little 10mm nut as the top of the two mounting studs snapped with only about 1/8" left past the mounting flange of the part. See attached picture for the damage done.

Am I completely toast here? I see no indication that I can strip and thread in a new stud, so I'm guessing this just welded onto the block or something. Would I seriously be looking at pulling the whole engine for this little ten-cent part?

Thanks for ANY help.

How catastrophically stupid would it be to grind the outside of the flange down enough to where the nut might fit?

You'd probably be fine grinding it down a bit. Just remember that all you really need to do is tighten it enough that it won't just vibrate off, or leak. It's not under much strain where it is. Be careful, because if you mess up again, I don't know if a drill can fit in there to replace the stud, or if you can drill it out without going through the timing cover and showering the inside with metal flakes. I'm like 95% sure the stud part of the timing cover, which is not going to be fun to remove with the engine still in the car.

That sucks man. When I replaced my tensioner....I was terrified that I would do exactly that

Father-in-law is looking at it now while I'm at work, and he thinks the studs are simply screwed in, reverse-threaded. He hasn't checked the ones on the tensioner itself since they're hard to reach, but he said he checked other similar studs on the engine block elsewhere. Ray of hope, possibly?