chevy 2.2 regular vs. 2.2 ecotech

[misterericsir]

I have a 2.2 in my cavalier from 1993 and was wondering about the difference between this engine and the 2.2 ecotech (which I may be spelling wrong) ?

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[3SheetsDiesel]

For purposes of this explanation, when I say 2.2, I mean the one in the 1993 Cavalier. Ecotec refers to the 2.2 Ecotec that you’re asking about.

The differences between these two engines is night and day. The 2.2 is a pushrod engine, meaning that it has a single camshaft, spun by a chain attached to the crankshaft, which causes 8 lifters to move up and down. Each lifter has a pushrod sitting on top of it, which in turn is connected to the rocker arms which open the intake and exhaust valves. It uses individual spark plug wires which I believe are controlled by a distributor for ignition, and is possibly throttle body injected, but may be port injected (meaning you have a fuel injector for each cylinder), I can’t remember off the top of my head. to the best of my knowledge, this engine has a block made of cast iron, along with the cylinder head, and is equipped with an external, spin-on oil filter.

The Ecotec, by comparison, is a DOHC engine with 16 valves (8 intake, 8 exhaust), meaning that it has a camshaft that controls only the intake valves, and a completely different camshaft that controls the exhaust valves. Just like the 2.2, the cams are spun by a chain attached to the crankshaft. The Ecotec uses COP, or Coil On Plug ignition, which in this particular instance is one large coil pack that has 4 spark plug boots coming off of it, rather than an individual coil for each cylinder. This engine is all aluminum with a canister type oil filter mounted roughly under the intake manifold.

There are tons of other differences between the two engines, but I can’t think of them all right now. Suffice to say that about the only things those two engines have in common is the number of cylinders (4), the type of fuel (gasoline), and the timing setup (chain).

[Shaun_300]

The Ecotec is 100x the engine the ole 2.2 OHV was in my opinion! Can’t beat the Ecotec for a 4 cylinder engine. Other than the timing chain problems in 2002 models they’ve been pretty much bullet proof ever since. I had one apart in 6 years at a GM dealer, an 06 HHR spun a rod bearing at 10,000km, not sure if it wasn’t torqued properly from factory or just a bad bearing. Had to put a crank in it and all new bearings, that’s the only one I’ve seen apart in 03+ model years. Awesome engine, designed by Lotus, stock block can handle 1000hp, they use them in dragsters believe it or not. Had one in my 03 Cavalier 2 door 5-speed. That little car could scoot, and 35+mpg highway. Almost regret selling it.

[ekalb1027]

i have an 04 vue with the ecotec in it and it is a 5 speed… has 172000 + on it and still goin strong and will still melt tires thru second gear and will still get 200 ish miles on a 1/4 tank of gas ….. ive seen alot of hondas in my rear view with it it is a great motor

[R-vin]

hi,
check out my video on how to check the engine timing on the Grandfather Ecotec engine…from 1996…. an original engine option for a 96` Opel Omega…from Germany…a German outpost of GM.
20091014_135253.mpg
cast iron block, has the oil filter mounted right out front, well laid out, easy to work on (though up till now all i did was the timing belt change, oil changes and changed a cam sensor…which turned out to be fully functional…i did not realise that a dowel bolt from the plastic timing belt cover was used to centralise the cam sensor….

over all a Gr8 engine….Glad that GM kept it on the drawing board and probably perfected it by now….though didnt really have much to perfect in the first place.

[Author]

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