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ob2s

1.9 XU9JA down on power

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ob2s

Unlike many of you I don't the luxury of having someone who has seen a number of 205s in their shop, so I pay a lot of labor for learning. I had the timing belt and water pump changed and my mechanic said the Haynes manual was a bum steer to get the timing right, so they fiddled and fiddled. I got the car back and it runs very nicely, however it seems down on power now. Maybe like 20%. Can timing be off such that it runs fine but doesn't have the max HP ?

Thanks 

 

Side Note: He said my air flow sensor, MAF was full of oil (oddly). He cleaned it and said it works, of course, it runs ok, but I wonder if that is a culprit.

Edited by ob2s

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Thijs_Rallye

They do run if they are one tooth out. Tbh I don't understand what difficulty they could've had setting the timing right, they are as easy as they come. Checking the timing you can even do yourself, it takes a (shortened) 10mm drill in the crank pulley and an 8 mm drill in the camshaft pulley. You only need to take off the top cover to verify it yourself.

 

What often has happened in the past on there engines is that idiots use the bottom timing mark for loosening the crank pulley bolt. That will result in a timing slot breaking off. See attached pic for location. You can ask your mechanic how this slot looked when he had the pulley off.

 

Some more info:

 

timing_mark_crank.jpg

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welshpug

Haynes is pretty spot on with timing belt changes tbh, it would be easy enough for you to check it, top cover off and lower water pipe off its mountings and see if both pins will go in

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karabas

Hope this helps too.

 

1125088746_ScreenShot2019-12-23at22_24_53.png.32551e6061455e31f6364feb5b4cd440.png

 

1952838090_ScreenShot2019-12-23at22_28_06.png.eeee3a6455054fceebcbdb577296232c.png1886400487_ScreenShot2019-11-20at20_44_44.thumb.png.00209c50f9a2880b743536cfb92090a7.png

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309SRiguy

"What often has happened in the past on there engines is that idiots use the bottom timing mark for loosening the crank pulley bolt."

 

Removal of the cover at the bottom of the flywheel allows access to the ring-gear. Locking the flywheel provides much better leverage against the force required to loosen the crankshaft nut.

 

See image below clipped from Haynes/Coomber.

removing crank pulley XU 8v.JPG

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Thijs_Rallye

You can also lock the crank with an decapitated 8mm bolt just above the starter motor. It slides through the block into a hole in the rear side of the flywheel.

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Tom Fenton

Good impact gun and you don't need to worry about trying to lock the crank or flywheel.

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karabas

1156480954_ScreenShot2019-12-23at22_22_33.png.ae2e03a9fc8a39aefcba6153bbab14ab.png

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Tom Fenton
On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2021 at 12:40 AM, ob2s said:

I had the timing belt and water pump changed and my mechanic said the Haynes manual was a bum steer to get the timing right, so they fiddled and fiddled. I got the car back and it runs very nicely, however it seems down on power now. Maybe like 20%. Can timing be off such that it runs fine but doesn't have the max HP ?

 

 

There are 2 "timings" that can be wrong here. Cam timing and ignition timing. Both will make a difference.

 

Cam timing needs to be checked first, using the pins as described in other posts above.

 

Then ignition timing which is adjusted by slackening the 2x nuts that hold the distributor and rotating the distributor relative to the cylinder head.

 

Trying to set up the timing using a timing light is difficult on a 205 as the access to the timing marks is difficult to put it lightly. I wouldn't say it is a "better" way, but a more practical way is to gradually advance the ignition timing bit by bit until the engine starts to "pink" at low revs high load. At that point then retard the timing bit by bit until the pinking stops. You will get most power at the highest ignition timing the engine will tolerate without it pinking.

 

These engines are sensitive to ignition timing particularly and you can turn a slug into a flying machine by setting it up just right.

 

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karabas
2 hours ago, Tom Fenton said:

Trying to set up the timing using a timing light is difficult on a 205 as the access to the timing marks is difficult to put it lightly. I wouldn't say it is a "better" way, but a more practical way is to gradually advance the ignition timing bit by bit until the engine starts to "pink" at low revs high load. At that point then retard the timing bit by bit until the pinking stops. You will get most power at the highest ignition timing the engine will tolerate without it pinking.

This is what I've done. Although I have the timing gun, I found better ignition timing with this way due to fuel octane. 

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Gohn
On 7/9/2021 at 7:00 PM, karabas said:

1156480954_ScreenShot2019-12-23at22_22_33.png.ae2e03a9fc8a39aefcba6153bbab14ab.png

 

got one of these flywheel lockers, but haven't had the need to use it yet

didn't know where it slotted so was kind of fiddling around the flywheel thinkin it was supposed to slot in the top inspection hole or something..

and then I see this, so now I know

good pic hakan

 

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Thijs_Rallye

So @ob2s, how did this end?

Edited by Thijs_Rallye

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ob2s
5 hours ago, Thijs_Rallye said:

So @ob2s, how did this end?

It is in storage, I will have it out next week and do what Tom Fenton suggested. Thanks for thinking about it. I will report back. 

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ob2s

After I drove it for about 20 miles in the heat, it got better. So that might indicate that the belt is right. I will try the ignition timing adjustment to see if it improves. Thanks

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Thijs_Rallye

I wouldn't mess with the ignition timing already, since that is the one parameter they didn't alter. First check the cam timing.

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Zetec7
On 8/3/2021 at 8:28 PM, Thijs_Rallye said:

I wouldn't mess with the ignition timing already, since that is the one parameter they didn't alter. First check the cam timing.

If the cam is retarded 1 tooth the ignition timing will be out also as it is driven by the camshaft 

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Thijs_Rallye
43 minutes ago, Zetec7 said:

If the cam is retarded 1 tooth the ignition timing will be out also as it is driven by the camshaft 

That is exactly the reason why I say verify cam timing first instead of starting to mess with the ignition potentially making it only worse ;) .

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ob2s
On 8/8/2021 at 12:51 PM, Thijs_Rallye said:

That is exactly the reason why I say verify cam timing first instead of starting to mess with the ignition potentially making it only worse ;) .

@Thijs_Rallye , I took it to another shop today with 8mm and 10mm shortened drill bits and the explicit instructions kindly offered above and they said it was 2 teeth off. And it progressively runs like s*it as further proof. So I will take it back to the original shop and ask them fix it, even though he said he was very happy to see it leave his shop, which is foreboding.  Thanks for the encouragement and help.

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ob2s

Update :-( 

I called the original mechanic and he said point blank, the car would not run in the Haynes locked in position. He had to make it 1 or 2 teeth off for it to run. He said maybe the pulley was replaced wrongly or the engine swapped. He went back to the fact that the MAF had oil inside and thinks it it the culprit. Do they make datacards for Peugeot so I could see of the engine is original ? I guess they were too mass produced for that. 

 

Here is another data point. I drove the car at about 140kph for ~8km got off the motorway (it is 28C outside) and it slowly started to run much better. That wouldn't be possible if the timing belt was off ? 

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Thijs_Rallye

It could be many things that have been changed in the past. If you want to verify if the original camshaft is in you will have to remove the cam cover. Original cams are marked with paint streaks at specific locations.

 

Can you snap a picture of the distributor mounting nuts? (if it is sorta centered in the adjusting range). If the distributor has been re-timed in the past with the cam out of phase I can image it will not run properly if you set the cam to the factory positions. If it runs ok now something else must be wrong.

 

I also wonder if the woodruff key is in place at the crankshaft cam wheel.

 

 

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ob2s
7 hours ago, Thijs_Rallye said:

If it runs ok now something else must be wrong.

 

I also wonder if the woodruff key is in place at the crankshaft cam wheel.

 

 

It runs ok only when hot...I will grab a picture.

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Thijs_Rallye
On 8/24/2021 at 4:00 PM, ob2s said:

It runs ok only when hot...I will grab a picture.

Ok or good is quite a difference. But if it would be 2 teeth out it wouldn't run ok imho.

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ob2s

Here it is. Can adjustments also be made to the MAF ? I ran it again today and when it became hot, it ran almost just right.

IMG_2643.jpg

IMG_2650.jpg

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Gohn
On 8/24/2021 at 9:23 AM, ob2s said:

Do they make datacards for Peugeot so I could see of the engine is original ? I guess they were too mass produced for that. 

you can quote the VIN to a Peugeot dealer and they should be able to bring up all the details including the original engine number for the car

then cross reference that with the number on yours, least then you'll know

 

 

 

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ob2s
47 minutes ago, Gohn said:

you can quote the VIN to a Peugeot dealer and they should be able to bring up all the details including the original engine number for the car

then cross reference that with the number on yours, least then you'll know

 

 

 

Thanks, since it was sold in Marseille, maybe I can appeal to a dealer there. I wish they responded to email, maybe if I offer money..... I did write l'adventure Peugeot in France, twice, offering money the second time, but email addresses posted on website are like a black hole like always. 

Edited by ob2s

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