1995 Talon ESi auto. I did the timing belt change over 6k miles ago. Car started acting wierd recently, with the idle hunting and such. I kept waiting for a CEL but never got one. Still don't have one. I drove it home, next morning it didn't turn over. Just cranks and an occasional sputter. I'm assuming the ECM and all the sensors are right; disconnecting them throws the correct CELs. Has gas and spark, I grounded the spark plugs and the cylinders were full of gas (the spark plugs are wet after cranking). I pulled the timing cover back off, it was spot on, but I did it again anyways. No difference.

So I did a compression check while I had it all pulled out. Came out 50-50-25-50. Adding oil to the #3 cylinder put it at 75. So here I am trying to figure out what to do. The car didn't smoke or use *any* oil. Oil isn't milky. I have no idea what's going on here or how it happened. From checking around here, normal compression is 200+.

Any suggestions?

Bet your timing belt skipped a few teeth.

I just had it back apart and redid it. Everything is right; the two dots on the cams pointed at each other and the crank lined up with the arrow, and it was still correct after turning it over by hand. Is it possible for the cam sprockets to turn themselves in relationship to the cam? I never loosened up the sprockets; I didn't do the oil seals behind them.

According to the shop manual I bought, it should throw a code if the belt is off as well.

Is it possible for the cam sprockets to turn themselves in relationship to the cam?

I doubt it. They're notched in place, aren't they? There's no way they'd move with the notch there.

Something's going on with compression if your timing is on. Have you done a leak down test and listened up near the valves?

Brian