Timing Out?

[Guest smokinslim]

I'm not very familiar (yet lol) with engine internals and timing etc but i'll explain the issue i'm having as best i can, hopefully someone might have some ideas that will help. Obvious answer would be to take the car to a garage but i wont learn anything that way and have little faith in anywhere round this way. Anyway...

 

...I've changed the timing belt and tensioner on my engine a couple of days ago (due to a dieing tensioner), tension on the belt probably isn't perfect but it wont be far out. When i removed the old belt i secured the cam pulley in position with a 10mm drill bit as suggested, went to secure the flywheel with a 6mm drill bit and found that due to a ridge sticking out of the block the bit wouldn't line up straight to the hole and so wouldn't fit. Couldn't find any shorter bits or bolts or anything else 6mm in diameter to fit the hole, so i crossed my fingers and tried my best not to move anything. For that reason i guess it's quite possible that i've inadvertantly changed the timing slightly. I don't know that it was on the factory setting before anyway as it had previously been adjusted for unleaded fuel.

 

I was a little apprehensive about all this due to the importance of getting it right and never having done it or even seen it done before (i did read up on it tho) so i turned the crank over a few times manually by way of socket and ratchet, not dodgy knocking noises. Took a couple of deep breaths and turned the key, it fired straight away and seemed to be running as well as it had previously. Set off for a test run and noticed the exhaust note had altered slightly but everything seemed ok, traffic wasn't allowing much testing and i thought i'd best be gentle to begin with just incase. A few 30mph and below miles round town that afternoon no problems, decided to leave town briefly to get on some open roads and test further. As soon as i put my foot down i realised it was distinctly down on power. Progressing the throttle to open the second barrel of the carb only seems to succeed in making it sound odd. Acceleration is still smooth but very slow, like its severely restricted, and the exhaust sounds strangled. The higher the revs the worse it gets. I've had it up to 60 and it would go more but i havent bothered trying, there seems no point thrying to push it as it just wont let me but it is saving me petrol lol, probably because i'm not pushing it for a change. I've added some super unleaded petrol to the tank, i usually run a mix of normal and super anyway, and this has improved the situation slightly but certainly hasn't solved the problem.

 

My best guess is that the valves are closing a little early but i don't know for certain, so any helpful ideas and suggestions would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Edited July 13, 2006 by smokinslim

[christopher 5 1 Cars]

I'm not very familiar (yet lol) with engine internals and timing etc but i'll explain the issue i'm having as best i can, hopefully someone might have some ideas that will help. Obvious answer would be to take the car to a garage but i wont learn anything that way and have little faith in anywhere round this way. Anyway...

 

...I've changed the timing belt and tensioner on my engine a couple of days ago (due to a dieing tensioner), tension on the belt probably isn't perfect but it wont be far out. When i removed the old belt i secured the cam pulley in position with a 10mm drill bit as suggested, went to secure the flywheel with a 6mm drill bit and found that due to a ridge sticking out of the block the bit wouldn't line up straight to the hole and so wouldn't fit. Couldn't find any shorter bits or bolts or anything else 6mm in diameter to fit the hole, so i crossed my fingers and tried my best not to move anything. For that reason i guess it's quite possible that i've inadvertantly changed the timing slightly. I don't know that it was on the factory setting before anyway as it had previously been adjusted for unleaded fuel.

 

I was a little apprehensive about all this due to the importance of getting it right and never having done it or even seen it done before (i did read up on it tho) so i turned the crank over a few times manually by way of socket and ratchet, not dodgy knocking noises. Took a couple of deep breaths and turned the key, it fired straight away and seemed to be running as well as it had previously. Set off for a test run and noticed the exhaust note had altered slightly but everything seemed ok, traffic wasn't allowing much testing and i thought i'd best be gentle to begin with just incase. A few 30mph and below miles round town that afternoon no problems, decided to leave town briefly to get on some open roads and test further. As soon as i put my foot down i realised it was distinctly down on power. Progressing the throttle to open the second barrel of the carb only seems to succeed in making it sound odd. Acceleration is still smooth but very slow, like its severely restricted, and the exhaust sounds strangled. The higher the revs the worse it gets. I've had it up to 60 and it would go more but i havent bothered trying, there seems no point thrying to push it as it just wont let me but it is saving me petrol lol, probably because i'm not pushing it for a change. I've added some super unleaded petrol to the tank, i usually run a mix of normal and super anyway, and this has improved the situation slightly but certainly hasn't solved the problem.

 

My best guess is that the valves are closing a little early but i don't know for certain, so any helpful ideas and suggestions would be gratefully received. Thanks.

 

Who knows...If it was me I would take off the cam belt cover and check to make sure again, and retension.

Make sure the crank is in the right place by the bit. It "should" go stright in if its in teh right palce and if it is not it can't be far off

[Pug_101 0]

have you tryied seting the dizzy up to see if things improve.

[Guest mick925]

did you put tipex marks on i normally put a mark on the one of the cam teeth then just beside it on the head and one on the bottom pulley tooth and one beside on the block, then once you`v turned (twice on the crank) it by hand if they line back up it should be ok cause if its out a tooth it can still run not properly though. i`d maybe try again try find a pin that will fit properly

[Guest MrAsh]

It might not be that you have knocked it and put it out. It could be because your old timing belt was streched over use, and your timing was adjusted accordingly.

You should turn the engine over by hand until the crankshaft TDC mark is lined up, then check the cam shaft is on it's timing mark, it could be a tooth out and still run. If this is all ok then you need to reset the timing using a strobe light for the new - unstreched belt.

[macaroni 17 1 Cars]

As above, it sounds like it is a tooth out.

Line up the flywheel mark with TDC and make sure the cam shaft pully hole lines up with the block, reattach the belt making sure the front of the belt ie the longest length is taut before locking the adjuster.

 

Don't worry, I mess about with mine all the time and as long as pistons don't hit valves you won't do any lasting damage.

[Guest smokinslim]

Thanks for the help with this guys. I think it must have been that the old belt had stretched. I need to get myself a shorter 6mm drill bit and the only 6mm bolt i could find was too short lol, had to settle for a 5mm bolt but it did the job. It was only a tooth or two out, a bit to much advance as i'd guessed. I'll probably have a play with the dizzy to fine tune it later but it's pretty much as it was again now