Anyone with any useful information on doing the timing belt procedure, or how to check for misalignment, let me know.

My Unorthodox racing cam gears are slippery from oil residue or something, think that could have caused the belt to skip a tooth? The belt looks brand new...guess if it has actually skipped a tooth though, i'll have to replace it cause it could have stretched? sound logical?

How can I troubleshoot this? I scanned the port and came up with code p1390 - timing belt skipped one tooth or more, I first noticed it when I adjusted the cam gears too radical, and when i zero'd them back, the idle was fine and i didnt check to see if the code went away and this happened since then or not, so i dont know...

Armond said to get the #1 piston to TDC, and check and see if the gears line up... does that mean the lines of the gears that are both set to zero now will be across from one another when the #1 piston is TDC?

I will do that soon, I need to locate a dial indicator first I guess so I know where TDC really is...

The engine runs and holds a decent idle, but every 10-15 seconds it will studder like its got a fouled plug, sometimes it will cycle like that for 5-10 seconds, then idle smoothly and then jump back into the cycle.

Any helpful info is much appreciated... TIA

So, I kinda guestimated TDC... I put a long skinny screw driver down and let it lay on the top of the piston... then I turned the crank pulley till the piston was all the way up, right before it was going to come back down and they were exactly aligned... they aligned as soon as the piston started to travel down, like right as soon as the screw driver head started to fall... Guess I really need a dial indicator to tell exactly, huh?

It may be hard to see with the motor mount plate on there, but there is an arrow mark on the block that lines up an arrow on the crank T-belt pulley. when those are in line, its at TDC. At the same time, each mark on the cam gears should be right across from each other, perfectly in line like this - - Just set you cam gears to "0", and line up the marks, that should be just like stock timing.

Does the code go away after you clear it? If it does, it may be just 'left over' from your cam gear mishap. Some other things to check:

Coolant temp sensor - Watch it in the DFI, and see if it is cycling with the stutter.

TPI sensor voltage - see above

IAT sensor - see above (if you have one)

Timing - watch it in the datalogger and see if it cycles.

If it's one of the sensors, you know what to do. If any of them are failing, they will make the car very rich. If the timing is varying when it stutters, replace plugs, then wires. Also, take the ignition box out of the circuit if you can, just to eliminate it as a possible source.

If I clear the code, it will pop back up by the time the engine is warmed up and I give it a few revs.

Datalogging the car for a few minutes at idle, the engine coolant temp ranges bettween 194 and 206, but if I remember right the engine was warming up to 206, then the fans kicked on and pushed it back to 194.

Load% stayed the same, 6 to 7 then 7 to 6, etc. etc...

MAP was 15 to 17, average 16.5

RPM's ranged from 800 to 900, with an average of 851

Intake air temp was steady at 105 to 107, average 106.5

Throttle Position Sensor was 11.3 to 12.1, average 11.7

Spark Advance ranged from 0 to 10 with an average of 5.2

Hmmm. How about the Cam angle sensor? Does that have a code of it's own, or will it show up as a jumped tooth?

You may be able to get away with the screwdriver method because you have cam gears. Try this, make sure the cam gear marks line up as soon as the piston hits the top, not when it starts going down again.

If there is oil on your cam gears then you may have a leaky oil seals. There's a few seals behind the rear timing belt cover. I'd probably tear it down just to fix the leak. How old is your timing belt? They're good for 60k. I suppose it could stretch but they're made out of some pretty seriosly heavy duty shit.

It's a bitch, but if the screwdriver method doesn't work, you're going to have to reset the timing. Here's a highlight real for setting the timing. The procedure is somewhat involved and therefore makes it an easy job to screw up. If the timing marks don't line up perfectly when your done(step 17), you have to do the whole procedure over again.

EDIT : Just thought about this. Because you have the cam gears, you may not need to do the whole procedure. You will need to get the belt covers off so you can see the TDC mark. Then you could just set it to TDC and align the cams.




ride__________95 Eclipse RS : 5 speed
power________Gude cams : AFX UDP : ram air : test pipe : Thrush glasspack
suspention___BOMZ F/R upper strut bars : ES inserts
sound________Kenwood KDC 5000 : Audiovox 8" sub toob - no sub amp(damnit!)
shizzle_______AutoCommand remote start : dual air horns
incomming___GreenSlime F/R lower strut ties : Jeep TB

When you put the piston at TDC make sure it's on the compression stroke. You said you have aftermarket cam gears, did you check them to see if the timing marks line up exactly when compared to the old gears? After you have TDC on the compression stroke, with the crank pulley off, check your timing mark on the crank, then check the cam gears marks. Make sure you turn the motor over in the clock-wise direction while trying to line up the marks. Also if you suspect oil on the timing gears PLEASE CHANGE THE BELT. Oil is VEEEEERY bad for a belt, and its much cheaper to change the belt, then to buy new pistons and valves. Also clean all pulleys and gears with brake cleaner and clean them with a very clean rag.

Anyone else with the unorthodox racing cam gears? did they line up perfectly. Ahh well, I already know the answer, here's a pic of the gears from different angles while the marks were lined up on the crank pulley. Guess its off a tooth, huh?

so whats a simple guide to doing this thing? From looking at it, it looks like you'll want to remove the power steering assembly from the mount, then loosen the alterntaor, remove the acc belts, then us a 5 ton puller to pull the under drive pulley off, then hold the engine in place with a floor jack and remove the side engine mount and bracket, and then you'll be able to remove the tensioner and belt and shit amd replace? anything else?

Yep, basically you need to remove everything needed to do a timing belt, only you wont remove the belt. You have to get at the T-belt tensioner, which requires removal of the crank pulley, motormount plate, and the front T-belt cover. Be sure to use a good torque wrench when setting the pretension on the T-blet. Maybe check out my writeup in my sig for some info, if you havent already..

Ok... I:
removed:
-power steering pump from mounting bracket
-power steering bracket from engine
-underdrive pulley and belts
-side motor mount from mounting bracket on engine

now i have come to realize they really didnt intend for you to do this with the engine in the car... cause this damn mounting plate/bracket on the side of the engine(the one that bolts to the motor mount) is not wanting to come off.. the damn bolts are way too long and hit the wheel well not allowing the assembly to slide out... this is nutz, if i dont get it soon, i am gonna drill holes in the wheel wells to slide the botls through....

Ok, there is oil buildup on the timing belt side of the block and head... more towards the back than the front, probably from the slant of the engine i guess... the oil isnt above the cam gears, but is right below them and travels all down the block, dripping a little from the tensioner(the cylinder one with the plunger). The inside lip of the cam gears isnt oily though, just disty... the oil pan has a few drips of oil on it, and so does around the oil filter... the belt is oily, slippery, but dripping or anything remotely like that

What do you think? bad camshaft seal? That is something i have never messed with before, so i dunno... any info is much appreicated.. what it looks like is maby a bad seal causes the belt to get oily and skip a tooth? i dunno...

Yeah, it's a bitch to get that damn motor mount off. I had to jack up the side of the engine so it looked like this \ in the engine bay before I could get the damn bolts out.


ride__________95 Eclipse RS : 5 speed
power________Gude cams : AFX UDP : ram air : test pipe : Thrush glasspack
suspention___BOMZ F/R upper strut bars : ES inserts
sound________Kenwood KDC 5000 : Audiovox 8" sub toob - no sub amp(damnit!)
shizzle_______AutoCommand remote start : dual air horns
incomming___GreenSlime F/R lower strut ties : Jeep TB : SFC Hyper-R