tomeyeman

No dash light on. No codes coming up. I have about 5 hours of daylight left and I've had the thing apart so many times now that the bolts practically jump off by themselves when I walk by .

I think I will take it apart just ONE more time and set everything at zero with no 50 degrees rotation (like I did originally 2 weeks ago) and as suggested and see what happens.

etex

Take your time and look at it with fresh eyes. If a mistake was made the first time, it could be being repeated each subsequent time. If you're using an after-market timing belt you could be wasting your time but gaining lots of experience. I hope not. Watch your electrical sensors to be sure all are plugged in and are tight.

bmoore

The 50* thing is straight from TIS. If you didn't do it, great, but that is not Toyota's recommended procedure. I did say '95-96 in the title / first post. That should be '95-97, as they are all the same.

The 50* thing is after everything is set up properly, then the crank is turned so that the timing mark on the crank pulley lines up with the center of the bolt for the left idler pulley, just to make sure that's clear. With that orientation, the marks on the factory timing belt WILL line up with the notches on the cam and crank gears.

There CAN be issues with this procedure, if you do not follow everything correctly the first time. In my case, as I said, I got the cam gears out of sync with the crank. I worked very carefully and was lucky that I did get everything back to where it should be, BUT there was a time as I was turning the motor by hand that I did hear the sickening tap of a valve touching a piston. If you would do this, not pay attention to the exact orientation / relationship of the rotating parts, you CAN get to a point where you'll bend valves. Obviously I hope that's not the case here, but the "playing card in wheel spokes" worries me.

etex

I have also seen posts on this forum about after-market plug wires not having the proper resistance and causing engine miss... as an afterthought.

tomeyeman

Fellas........ I'm tapping out!

I finished putting the timing belt back to zero (no 50 degree rotation) and damn if it's not starting and running exactly the same. How can that be?! 4 belt changes and no improvement.

Come to think of it, if I'm rotating the crank 50 degrees with the belt on, I'm also moving the cams the same amount. I don't get how that is supposed to do anything. OR was the rotation supposed to be just the crank (ie. with the timing belt already removed, thus not moving the cams??).

Either way, doesn't matter to me. I'm done. I'm just out of ideas. Perhaps, like someone mentioned, maybe the aftermarket belt has incorrect markings??

Or perhaps I have already done some internal damange to the engine. If so, I won't shed a tear. The car has almost 180,000 miles and is 14 years old. I will take it to the Toyota dealer on Wednesday when I'm off work. They did a good job putting on a timing belt for me 3 years ago. So I'm confident they know what they are doing.

If I'm lucky, there's just a bad connector or wire. If not, hey, it is what it is, right.

I'll update when I find something out.

bmoore

Yes, turning the crank will turn the cams, and they'll all continue to have the same relationship. The reason for the 50* turn (according to the Toyota manual) is to make sure the pistons/cams aren't in danger of touching each other.

Good luck with Toyota, please keep us updated. I was in almost the same position and I was wondering how a dealership would handle a situation like that.

Thermactor

iTrader: (1)

kick the car for me before you get rid of it

tomeyeman

Okay

A little update:

I was messing around during lunch time. Started the car and manged to keep it running at about 200 rpm (wasn't easy) and messed around taking off vacuum hoses and putting them back on just to see if there would be any difference.

There was no real change in engine performance except it cut off a few times. But when I was done, I noticed the "check engine" light on this time for the first time. Hooked up the OBD scanner and got PO300 'Multiple cyl misfire'. Specifically # 1, #2, #4 and # 8.

What's up with that? Could it be just from messing around with the vaccum/idle or is this a tell-tale sign of a serious problem? Hey did I mention I changed out the timing belt? HA, HA, HA, HA..........

I can't wait until Wednesday to get this thing off my hands for a while.

bmoore

That sounds like a problem with one of the coils, don't give up yet!

Thermactor

iTrader: (1)

your timing is probably fine but you've either got a bunch of spark plug wires plugged into the wrong places or one of your distributor rotors is off by ninety degrees

tomeyeman

Hmmm......now THAT'S something I can fix. I'm 99.9% sure the plug wires are correct. Checked them about 5 times. I just switched out my old (good) coil and there was no change. Distributor Rotors...hmmmmm?

I know I have the metal tip pointed at the notches in the housing. I assume that is the way they go. I suppose I could flip it and see what happens. Couldn't hurt at this point. I still have a little skin left on my knuckles .

Wait, rotor off by 90 degrees? I believe they only go one way or the other. There is 2 screws so I can only flip them 180 degrees or back. Is that what you meant?

Thermactor

iTrader: (1)

right, i meant 180 degrees

tomeyeman

So which way do they go? Does anyone know for sure?

Damn, I just discovered that I didn't put the plug wires into the little holders last night (it was late) and my number 6 wire got chewed up by the cam pulley. Oh well, I guess that sorta explains why it didn't show a code until I ran it for a while (took a bit for the wire to get half eaten through). No apparant problem with the other wires though.

I guess I will just go ahead and buy another new set and give them a try. Sorta have to now anyway. If I can find out which way the rotors are supposed to go I'll change them around.

tomeyeman

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..................................

I changed back to my old spark plugs: No difference

I put on new plug wires: No change

I thought, hey maybe I got bad (new) distributor caps so I changed them back to my originals: No change

Ho hum. My hands hurt. My brain hurts. My wallet hurts ($100 for new plug wires because I was an idiot and tore up my other new ones).

Thermactor

iTrader: (1)

I wish I lived closer to you. I could have had your problem figured out in an hour.