Replaced water pump, car wont start now?

2001 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
188,000 MILES • 2.4L • AUTOMATIC
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ANTHONYVE4
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
The chevy cavalier 2001 with twin cam DOHC engine had water pump severe leak. i put in new water pump. i marked the cam shaft sprocket and chain and crank shaft with paint marker to placement. i put back the old chain tensioner. put it all back. I used a ratchet - socket on the crank shaft to rotate it. now i tried start the car and wont start seems turn over slow too. Could i have damaged the valves by using ratchet on the crank shaft ? What do i do now ? take the timing chain cover off now and try new chain and parts ?

need help here.

Anthony
Nov 1, 2026 at 2:48 PM
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MECHTRIX
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 575 POSTS
Sounds to me like you might have got the timing off..
it might be ok since the engine still cranks hopefully you can just reset the cam timing and it will run again as long as you dont keep cranking it but yeah id take it apart again to see if its acually in alignment might need to just re do it
time it to cyinder 1 tdc good luck hope this helps
Nov 1, 2026 at 6:57 PM
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KRAKENAUTO
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 111 POSTS
Anytime you replace a water pump and there's timing chains and guides involved I always recommend A new timing chain and guides because you're there already. You don't want to have to go back twice like you're having to now. I would take it off and recheck your timing as it definitely sounds off. The timing chain could have jumped. The guides could be messed up. There's many variables there that we wouldn't know until you took off the cover and re-examined.
Nov 2, 2026 at 7:13 AM
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STRAILER
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 55,649 POSTS
Can you upload a short video of the engine cranking over?, we can tell for sure if the timing is off from that.
Nov 2, 2026 at 3:51 PM
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