changed timing belt and now engine does'nt run right

[union76]

The main reason I did this was to replace the leaking water pump...anyway the engine ran fine before...now it sounds like it's misfiring...if I give it some gas it'll keep running but still sounds like it's misfiring...won't idle at all. I'm 99% sure I lined up the belts properly...but if it's off by even one tooth would it cause it to run like this? Here's a list of the stuff I did...

timing belt
balancer belt
water pump
cam seal
spark plug tube seals under rocker arms
valve adjustment

Thanks for the help

[F20A CB7]

ah i hate timin belt jobs. i want to do it on my own, along with tensior pully.

i dont think i can pull it off.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

The main reason I did this was to replace the leaking water pump...anyway the engine ran fine before...now it sounds like it's misfiring...if I give it some gas it'll keep running but still sounds like it's misfiring...won't idle at all. I'm 99% sure I lined up the belts properly...but if it's off by even one tooth would it cause it to run like this? Here's a list of the stuff I did...

timing belt
balancer belt
water pump
cam seal
spark plug tube seals under rocker arms
valve adjustment

Thanks for the help

tps and map swapped?

[union76]

tps and map swapped?

don't think it's that...did'nt have to detach them to do the job...can't hurt to check though...

[nine_deuce]

Maybe you're off more than a tooth? Did you line up all the timing marks? The ones on the pulley's, the one on the cam gear, the one on the flywheel?

[batever]

If it won't run right at idle speed (warm idle, 700 rpm) but it will run right at higher speeds, very likely you have the engine timing belt off a couple of teeth and *extremely* advanced, I'm going to guess, by 6 degrees or more. You really want to go back in and check the alignment of the pulleys again. I know that when I did my t.b. the first time I was off like one tooth's worth at the crankshaft pulley (equivalent to two teeth at the camshaft pulley) and the car was advanced in timing such tht it had literally no pickup, would not accelerate at all until I hit 3000 rpms, then it suddenly picked up like I had turbo installed, like a bat out of hell. When I went back in and and readjusted the timing belt so it wasn't off by a tooth, the problem was completely fixed. I suspect you are even more advanced, maybe 2 crankshaft pulley teeth's worth, in your engine timing , to the point that it won't even maintain an idle, whereas in my case the idle was fine (engine would maintain adequate power to stay running at 700 rpm) but there was just no power/torque at low rpms.

I'd be concerned that, given that your car won't idle at all, maybe you have sustained valve damage and one ore even two cylinders can't maintain compression. The easiest way to test is to borrow a compression tester and test each cylinder's compression. If you have a bent valve then one or more cylinders will read below 140 psi. (correct range for cyl compression is between 145 and 180 psi, with no cyl being less than 15% of the others). it's a simple test: all you do is hook up the compression tester to the cyl at the spark plug hole with the distributor primary voltage connector disconnected and crank the engine a few cranks and read the pressure gauge.

[HondaFan81]

I agree with batever...very well thought out.

[ElMasDuro]

Sadly, my friend, you're gonna have to take that engine apart again, and check the teeth. This happened to my Accord. My father was explaining to me over the phone the procedure to changing the timing belt, but I was slightly off. Go back and check. For beginners, I suggest they mark every little line how it was with a sharpie, that way you just put everything back together how it was. Good luck.

[iwork4mycb7]

Sadly, my friend, you're gonna have to take that engine apart again, and check the teeth. This happened to my Accord. My father was explaining to me over the phone the procedure to changing the timing belt, but I was slightly off. Go back and check. For beginners, I suggest they mark every little line how it was with a sharpie, that way you just put everything back together how it was. Good luck.

yeah this guy is right, you probably missed a tooth or jump one. same problem happend to me and my car wasnt running like it was and that was the problem two tooth wrong dumass mechanic got me mad.wasted my money

[union76]

very good info...thanks for the help...I was pretty sure I had everything lined up properly but I guess not obviously... Oh well...it'll give me more practice for the future...

[batever]

very good info...thanks for the help...I was pretty sure I had everything lined up properly but I guess not obviously... Oh well...it'll give me more practice for the future...

It could be a simpler problem like your spark plug leads are not plugged in in the correct order. Remember the cylinder firing sequence is (this is from memory) 1-3-4-2 and the distributor rotates clockwise when viewed from the passenger side of the car. Viewed from the front of the car, the cylinders are numbered from right to left 1,2,3,4. Make sure that those leads, starting at the cyl one post on the distributor cap, go to 1-3-4-2 in that order before taking the engine apart again.

Also, check all of the engine grounds you took off when you did the job. The one that goes to the valve cover from the alternator in particular. Make sure they are all securely connected and the contacting faces are clean of grease (grease doesn't conduct electricity--in most cases this won't matter when considering a connection made with a tightened 10mm bolt but if you're having trouble getting the car to idle i'd consider that as well).

If all of that checks out, then recheck the timing belt or do a compression test first then check the timing belt.

I don't know if you already know this, but this time after you're done with the timing belt, don't reassemble the timing covers, crankshaft accessory pulley, or alternator belt or power steering belt until you've run the engine a bit (with the car parked of course, and don't drive it very far like that) and seen that it is behaving properly.
The engine will run straight off the battery for quite a while. Then once you think everything is cool go ahead and put all the covers etc back on and get it road ready.

Of course it's dangerous without the covers installed so don't go near the running belts of course/ keep long hair, loose clothes, and jewelry etc away.

[union76]

Thanks for the help everyone...believe I've found what seems to be the problem. On the #1 cylinder one of the intake valves (closest to the drive belts) was'nt closing all the way due to a sticking rocker arm. The person who had this car before me did'nt do very good work on the engine...or whoever last did the work on it because the middle bolt was'nt even in there for the #1 cylinder rocker arm area. I verified all my timing marks and they lined up perfectly...hopefully this did'nt bend that valve...

[jakeafton]

I don't know if you already know this, but this time after you're done with the timing belt, don't reassemble the timing covers, crankshaft accessory pulley, or alternator belt or power steering belt until you've run the engine a bit (with the car parked of course, and don't drive it very far like that) and seen that it is behaving properly.
The engine will run straight off the battery for quite a while. Then once you think everything is cool go ahead and put all the covers etc back on and get it road ready.

Of course it's dangerous without the covers installed so don't go near the running belts of course/ keep long hair, loose clothes, and jewelry etc away.

Eek, you can really do that? I mean, I know you can, but would you, I mean, damn...of course, that's a way to make sure that everything is lined up right. Just seems kinda, freaky to me.

I just turned the engine over manually, by hand, about 7 or 8 times, and made sure it was still all lined up perfectly, then reassembled...

[batever]

Eek, you can really do that? I mean, I know you can, but would you, I mean, damn...of course, that's a way to make sure that everything is lined up right. Just seems kinda, freaky to me.

I just turned the engine over manually, by hand, about 7 or 8 times, and made sure it was still all lined up perfectly, then reassembled...

Yeah, you can do it (start and run the engine on just the battery without installing the timing belt covers or the alternator) for a while). I did it when I did my t.b the second time (to fix my mistake of the first time). You can also even drive it that way. But I wouldn't do it much farther than like up the street and back.

It's not a substitute for doing the manual check by turning over the engine by hand, but it's good to run the engine a little to see if the engine is behaving the way you want before putting in 2 hrs of reassembly effort.

Of course, shining a timing light on the flywheel is a good thing to do as well before reassembly. If the ignition timing mark has moved way off from where it was before you did the job, and is past the +/- 2 deg mark. then you would have cause to believe that you are off a tooth. That's probably actually the easiest, safest and most accurate method to check your work.

[batever]

Thanks for the help everyone...believe I've found what seems to be the problem. On the #1 cylinder one of the intake valves (closest to the drive belts) was'nt closing all the way due to a sticking rocker arm. The person who had this car before me did'nt do very good work on the engine...or whoever last did the work on it because the middle bolt was'nt even in there for the #1 cylinder rocker arm area. I verified all my timing marks and they lined up perfectly...hopefully this did'nt bend that valve...

I guess that would cause a problem, wouldn't it! Did you find this out through visual inspection or did you compression test and discover it?

I hope all it needs is a new bolt. Good luck with it.