| Subject: | Timing |
| Question: |
I bought my wife a 2000 Elcipse 3 liter 5 spd. It had 75k on it, so I thought I would do some maintenance on it right away. I changed the plugs, the cap, the rotor, and the timing belt. Upon restarting it, I now have a ticking coming from the engine. I am sick over it. Let me give you some specifics. The crankshaft timing mark and the from cam line up perfectly. The rear cam does not. It appear to line up just a touch behind the timing mark on the case. Just to be thorough, I have advanced it one tooth to see if it would make a difference. It did not. My primary concern is that when changing the belt, the rear cam jumped on me from the spring in it. Did this wreck my motor? Can this cause valve damage? Or, is this common? A couple other things. My wife just put plus gas in it rather than premium. I am also wondering if the new cap and rotor might have something to do with it. I will trouble shoot it tomorrow. 2 specific questions... Thanks for whatever help you can give me. John |
| Answer: | John, This is kinda a tough one without seeing it. But your engine should not be wrecked. It's possible that a valve or two may have been dinged a little bit, but it may not be too serious. Since being off a tooth or half a tooth really can't do much damage (or at least any more that already may have been done)you can try to set the cam either forward or backward to see if you can do a quick fix on it. Otherwise, you'll need to remove your timing belt again, set it back to TDC and reinstall the belt. Good luck! |