2018 - 2022 Chevy Traverse 2.0L Torque Specs

2019 Chevy Traverse 2.0L Complete Torque Specs List

Click the area you are looking for!


Chevy Traverse 2.0L DOHC Repair Information

Chevy Traverse 2.0L DOHC Engine Repair Information

Here you can find information regarding the assembly of the Chevy 2.0L DOHC engine. In this guide we will start from the inside of the engine including the crankshaft, connecting rods, and piston ring installation and then move outwards all the way to the pulley belt system. Along the way correct procedures and torque specs will be given to aid in the assembly of the engine. Feel free to start from the beggining and work your way outwards or skip ahead to your current position in the engine for what you may need.

Crankshaft Main Caps Installation

Chevy 2.0L engine block
The 2.0L engine block main bearing caps should be inspected for any defects or flaws before installation. Be sure to lubricate the bearing surfaces prior to installation. Once prepared you can place the caps onto the crankshaft and begin tightening the bolts down in a multi stage process. The first being 10 ft-lbs starting from the middle and going outwards. The second time around you can go to 15 ft-lbs and then for the third time you turn each bolt an additional 70 degree turn. Be sure to go through each bolt during each step and work your way from the inside or middle caps to the outside or outwards bearing caps. Once finished you should be good to continue with the rest of the engine.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L DOHC Main Cap Torque Specs : 15 ft-lbs + 70°

 

Piston and Connecting Rod Installation

Chevy 2.0L DOHC piston ring installation
To install the pistons and connecting rods you must first install the piston rings into each piston. Be careful not to stretch the rings or break them during installation. Make sure to put the correct rings in the correct positions, this can be determined by looking at the instructions given with the new rings. Each ring manufacturer is different so be sure to check for your specific rings. Once the rings have been installed you can now fit the connecting rod bearings into the end caps and lube them up with oil or lithium grease. The piston can now be lowered into the cylinder, make sure the dot or mark is facing the front of the engine and that you don't scratch the cylinder. Once installed you can match the connecting rod caps with the correct rods and start to torque the connecting rod bolts to 10 ft-lbs and then to 18 ft-lbs followed by an additional 100 degree turn for each bolt. After all are done rotate the crank to ensure all pistons move smoothly in and out of their cylinders and nothing binds.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L DOHC Connecting Rod Torque Specs : 18 ft-lbs + 100°

 

Oil Pump Installation

Chevy 2.0L DOHC oil pump installation
When installing the oil pump be sure to use the proper sealant around the pump base if neccessary to ensure that oil pressure doesn't drop due to leakage. Both surfaces should be cleaned and preped prior to installing. After preparing the contact surfaces carefully install the oil pump onto the balancer shaft assembly. The oil pump drive system connects directly to the balancer shaft in order to run its system. You can tighten down the oil pump bolts to 18 ft-lbs. The oil pickup tube can be tightened down to the oil pump using 10 ft-lbs of force.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Oil Pump Torque Specs : 18 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Oil Pump Pickup Tube Torque Specs : 10 ft-lbs

 

Cylinder Head Installation

Chevy 2.0L DOHC cylinder head installation
The first thing you must do when installing cylinder heads is to ensure both the block and head surfaces are completely clean from dust, oil, and any debris. The next thing you must to is to set the camshafts to their correct positions to prevent any valves from hitting pistons during installation and torquing of the head bolts. Much the same you have to set the pistons to their correct locations, typically this means putting the #1 piston to TDC or Top Dead Center. Once everything is ready you can install the head gasket onto the engine block by aligning the alignment dowels. Something I usually do is spray down the head gasket with some engine copper spray from permatex which you can find here, this ensures that any gaps that could be present between the 2 surfaces gets filled with the spray. It also helps to transfer heat between the 2 metals. With the gasket in place you can set the cylinder head onto the gasket and block, if needed have someone assist with this process as the head can be heavy and you don't want to scratch anything or drop it! Once the head has been placed you will want to start installing the head bolts to make sure it doesn't move. Be sure to buy new head bolts as many manufacturers use TTY or Torque to Yield head bolts meaning they stretch during torqueing and cannot be used twice. Also make sure to lubricate the bolts in clean engine oil before installing them into the head. On Chevy DOHC engines there is occasionally bolt holes on the engine block that cross into water passages. Any hole that does this should be installed with some silicon sealant. A little goes a long way in this step and you can check holes by shining a flashlight down them and looking in the water jackets. Once all the head bolts have been installed and finger tightened you can start the torqueing process, almost all head bolts have a multi-step process for torqueing. The 2.0L DOHC engine uses a single size of cylinder head bolts with a total of 10 bolts being installed into the cylinder head. These head bolts should be tightened down to 22 ft-lbs and then an additional 190 degree turn. This degree amount is rather large so you can break it down into 2 different steps if you desire. However you do it make sure to now overturn or underturn any bolt as this can cause an unbalance of surface pressure between the gasket and head.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L DOHC Cylinder Head Torque Specs : 22 ft-lbs + 190°

 

Balancer Shaft Timing Installation

Chevy 2.0L Balancer Shaft Installation
On the Chevy 2.0 DOHC engine the balancer shaft timing system gets installed onto the bottom of the engine block and will need to be installed prior to installing the oil pan. The oil pump on this engine is also driven off of the balaner shaft assembly and can be installed by following the oil pump section for this engine on this website. The balancer shafts simply get installed and timed according to the timing dots on each gear face. The balancer shaft assembly bolts tighten up the entire assembly to the bottom of the engine. These bolts can be tightened down to 25 ft-lbs. Be sure to install the balancer assembly using a new gasket and some silicon sealant to ensure that nothing ends up leaking. From here you can install the balancer shaft timing chain which should be installed prior to the camshaft timing chain. To install the timng chain make sure that the balancer shaft sprocket is tightened down to 37 ft-lbs. From here the timing chain can be installed by aligning the chain painted marks with the dots on both the crankshaft and balancer sprockets. Once aligned you can install the guides and tensioner and torque them down to 8 ft-lbs. Once complete release the tensioner and ensure that the chain is tight.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Balancer Shaft Assembly Torque Spec: 25 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Balancer Shaft Sprocket Bolt Torque Spec: 37 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Balancer Shaft Timing Guides Torque Spec: 8 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Balancer Shaft Timing Tensioner Torque Spec: 8 ft-lbs

 

Timing Chain and Camshaft Installation

Chevy 2.0L Timing chain installation
On the Chevy 2.0 DOHC engine the timing system is ran by the use of a chain. This chain system consists of a sprocket on each camshaft along with an internally installed tensioner, guides and a crankshaft sprocket. To remove the old timing chain system simply remove the side tensioner and remove the chain from the system along with the guides and corresponding sprockets. When installing the new timing chain start by ensuring that the camshaft sprockets and camshafts themselves have been torqued down properly. The camshaft bearing cap bolts get tightened down to 8 ft-lbs. The camshaft sprocket bolts get tightened down to . Once all of the sprockets have been torqued down properly and the crankshaft sprocket has been installed onto the crankshaft you can install the timing chain by aligning the triangle marks with the painted links on the chain itself. On the crankshaft side the marks are simply a dot located on the sprocket. With all of the marks aligned you can install the timing chain guides and then the timing chain tensioner. The bolts for each can be tightened down to 8 ft-lbs. From here you can double check the timing marks and then release the tensioners tension so that the timing chain tightens up. If desired you can then turn over the engine to ensure that everything remains tighten and turns smoothly.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Camshaft Sprocket Bolts Torque Spec: 62 ft-lbs + 30°

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Camshaft Bearing Cap Bolts Torque Spec: 8 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Crankshaft Position Sensor Torque Spec: 8 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Timing Chain Guide Bolts Torque Spec : 8 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Timing Chain Tensioner Torque Spec : 8 ft-lbs

 

Timing Cover Installation

Chevy 2.0L Timing cover installation
The timing cover on the 2.0L is used to cover up the internals of the engine and hold in massive amounts of oil. For this reason I recommend using some silicon sealant along with a new gasket during installation. Be sure to clean all of the metal surfaces prior to installation and placing the silicon onto the metal. With everything ready to install be sure to double check your timing and engine internals before placing the cover in place. Another tip is to lube up the crankshaft seal with some oil so it seats better. If everything is good to go then place the cover onto the engine block and begin to tighten down the bolts hand tight. Once all of the bolts have been set in place be sure to follow your sealants instructions by waiting the recommended time. Once ready you can torque down the bolts, since this engine uses 3 different sized bolts for the timing cover each bolt size will have a different torque spec. Staring with the smallest bolts you should tighten them down to 8 ft-lbs. Next the medium sized bolts can be torqued down to 18 ft-lbs. Finally the 3 largest bolts towards the bottom of the cover can be torqued down to 43 ft-lbs.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Timing Cover Torque Specs (Small): 8 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Timing Cover Torque Specs (Medium): 18 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Timing Cover Torque Specs (Large): 43 ft-lbs

 

Oil Pan Installation

Chevy 2.0L Oil Pan installation
Much like the timing cover on the 2.0L the oil pan plays an important role in keeping the engine oil inside the engine. For this reason I recommend using a new gasket as well as some silicone sealant during installation. Using the same technique as before with the cover you clean the surfaces of both the oil pan and the engine block and then install the new gasket onto the block and then follow it up with some silicone sealant. Be sure to follow your sealants instructions to ensure you get the best seal from your application. The oil pan bolts torque to 18 ft-lbs in a cross pattern design. Along with the pan is the oil pan drain plug, this gets removed and reinstalled quite frequently and can be torqued down to 18 ft-lbs.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Oil Pan Torque Specs : 18 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Oil Drain Plug Torque Specs : 18 ft-lbs

 

Valve Covers Installation

Chevy 2.0L Valve Cover installation
The valve cover installation is rather simple, there are rubber seals for each bolt hole and a silicone gasket that prevents oil from leaking out of the engine. It is recommended to replace both the seals and the gaskets although if they are in good condition you can reuse them. If you do choose to reuse them I would use some silicone sealant along with the silicon gasket to ensure it does not leak. The valve cover bolts torque down to 106 in-lbs or about 8 ft-lbs in a criss cross order. Be sure not to miss any bolts to avoid having oil leak out onto the exhaust pipes and cause a lot of smoking.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Valve Cover Torque Specs : 8 ft-lbs

 

Intake Manifold and Fuel Rail Installation

Chevy 2.0L Intake Manifold installation
When installing the intake manifold you want to make sure you have all the surfaces as well as intake holes cleaned out before placing the manifold into position. Once cleaned you can then place the intake manifold gaskets onto the alignment pins. If you want you can also use a little bit of sealant on the gaskets to help ensure there are no leaks. With the gaskets in place you can now put the manifold down onto the gaskets and begin to install the bolts. The intake manifold bolts torque to 10 ft-lbs and can be tightened in a cross pattern. The ignition coil assembly can be torque down to 8 ft-lbs and the spark plugs themselves can be torqued down to 13 ft-lbs, be careful not to overtorque these as they can snap and cause big problems. When installing the throttle body make sure that all of the gaskets are in good condition and will hold a seal as you do not want to be leaking gas fumes around the engine. If everything looks good you can tighten the throttle body bolts down to 8 ft-lbs.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Intake Manifold Torque Specs : 10 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Ignition Coil Assembly Torque Spec : 8 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Spark Plug Torque Specs : 13 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Throttle Body Torque Specs : 8 ft-lbs

 

Exhaust Manifold Installation

Chevy 2.0L Exhaust Manifold installation
The exhaust manifold can be installed by cleaning the surface areas on both the head an the manifold itself and then by using the exhaust manifold gasket and putting it in place. Once the gasket is in its location you can put the manifold onto the heads and begin to torque it down to 10 ft-lbs. I always use some copper spray from permatex on the exhaust manifold gaskets to ensure I do not end up with any exhaust leaks once done. When you go to install the engine into the vehicle or if it is already in the vehicle the torque specs for the exhaust manifold to the exhaust pipes or catalytic converter is 20 ft-lbs.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Exhaust Manifold Torque Spec : 10 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Exhaust Pipe Torque Specs : 20 ft-lbs

 

Water Pump and Thermostat Installation

Chevy 2.0L Water Pump installation
The water pump on the Chevy 2.0L engine gets tightened down to the engine block on the serpentine belt side and is ran off of the drive belt. When removing the old water pump be sure that you drain out the coolant prior to removal otherwise the coolant will spill all over. Once drained you can remove the water pump mounting bolts and remove the old pump from the vehicle. From here we can clean up the engine blocks mating surface and prepare the new water pump for installation. Be sure to use a new gasket and some silicon sealant to ensure that no coolant ends up leaking and causes further engine damage down the road. Once prepared you can install the pump onto the engine and hand tighten the bolts down. Once all of the bolts have been installed you can then torque down the bolts to 18 ft-lbs. Make sure to follow your sealants instructions as they often require you to wait an extended amount of time before torqueing down the bolts. From here you can reinstall the pumps outlet pipe if you happened to remove it during the job. These bolts get tightened down to 8 ft-lbs.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Water Pump to Block Torque Specs : 18 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Water Pump Outlet Pipe Torque Specs : 8 ft-lbs

 

Front Dress and Pulley belt Installation

Chevy 2.0L Pulley and Belt installation
Most of what is left on the engine is just place and tighten objects such as the belt pulleys, belt tensioner, throttle body, oil filter neck, crankshaft pulley, and motor mounts. If the items have a gasket and hold either oil or coolant inside the engine then feel free to add some sealant along with the gasket. Always be sure to inspect your gaskets and replace them if there is any deteriation or flaws with them. For the belt system the crankshaft pulley gets tightened down to the crankshaft at 74 ft-lbs and then an additional 125 degree turn. The drive belt tensioner can be tightened to 33 ft-lbs and the idler pulley can be torqued down to 16 ft-lbs. When installing be sure they both turn smoothly and if they do not then replace them with new ones as the bearings can go bad. The engine motor mount can be installed onto the engine block if it hasn't been already, the torques for the mount to the block is 59 ft-lbs and then when installing the mount to the vehicle or frame it can be torqued to 35 ft-lbs. Finally the throttle body can be installed on top of the intake manifold with a good gasket and some added sealant using 7 ft-lbs in a criss cross pattern. For installing the belt you can use a tool to move the tensioner into its springed state and install the belt as shown in the picture. The generator or alternator can be tightened down to the engine block using 17 ft-lbs of force. The power steering pump can be installed and torqued down to 18 ft-lbs and finally the A/C compressor can be torqued down to 15 ft-lbs of force.

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Crankshaft Pulley Torque Specs : 74 ft-lbs + 125°

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Idler Pulley Bolt Torque Spec : 16 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Drive Belt Tensioner Torque Specs : 33 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Motor Mount to Engine Torque Specs : 59 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Motor Mount to Frame Torque Specs : 35 ft-lbs

Chevy Traverse 2.0L Alternator to Block Torque Specs : 17 ft-lbs
Chevy Traverse 2.0L Power Steering Pulley Torque Specs : 18 ft-lbs
Chevy Traverse 2.0L A/C Compressor to Block Torque Specs : 15 ft-lbs

 


Timing Torque Specs
Timing Cover Bolts Torque spec (Small) 8 ft-lbs
Timing Cover Bolts Torque spec (Medium) 18 ft-lbs
Timing Cover Bolts Torque spec (Large) 43 ft-lbs
Camshaft Timing Sprocket Bolts Torque Specs 62 ft-lbs + 30°
Camshaft Bearing Cap Bolts Torque Specs 8 ft-lbs
Crankshaft Position Sensor Torque spec 8 ft-lbs
Timing Chain Guide Bolts Torque spec 8 ft-lbs
Timing Chain Tensioner Torque spec 8 ft-lbs
Cylinder Head Torque Specs
Cylinder Head Bolts Torque Specs 22 ft-lbs + 190°
Valve Cover Torque specs 8 ft-lbs
Exhaust Manifold Torque specs 10 ft-lbs
Exhaust Manifold to Pipe Torque 20 ft-lbs
Bottom End Torque's
Main Bearing Cap Bolts Torque Spec 15 ft-lbs + 70°
Connecting Rod Bolts Torque Spec 18 ft-lbs + 100°
Oil Pump to Balancer Shaft Torque Spec 18 ft-lbs
Oil Pump Pickup Tube Torque Spec 10 ft-lbs
Oil Pan Bolts Torque Spec 18 ft-lbs
Oil Pan Drain Plug Torque Spec 10 ft-lbs
Balancer Shaft and Timing Torque Spec
Balancer Timing Chain Guides Torque Spec 8 ft-lbs
Balancer Shaft Sprocket Bolt Torque Spec 37 ft-lbs
Balancer Timing Chain Tensioner Torque Spec 8 ft-lbs
Balancer Shaft Assembly to Block Torque Spec 25 ft-lbs
Intake Manifold and Fuel Rail Torque Spec
Intake Manifold 10 ft-lbs
Fuel Rail Torque Specs 5 ft-lbs
Spark Plugs Torque Specs 13 ft-lbs
Throttle Body Torque Specs 8 ft-lbs
Ignition Coil Assembly Torque Spec 8 ft-lbs
Water Pump & Pulley Torque Specs
Water Pump to Block Torque Specs 18 ft-lbs
Water Pump Outlet Bolts Torque Specs 8 ft-lbs
Crankshaft Pulley Bolt Torque Spec 74 ft-lbs + 125°
Drive Belt Tensioner Bolt Torque Spec 33 ft-lbs
Belt Idler Pulley Bolt Torque Spec 16 ft-lbs
Motor Mount (Engine Side) Torque 59 ft-lbs
Motor Mount (Frame Side) Torque 35 ft-lbs
Alternator to Block Bolts Torque Spec 17 ft-lbs
Power Steering Pump Bolts Torque Spec 18 ft-lbs
A/C Compressor to Block Torque Spec 15 ft-lbs