Hello,
First and foremost thanks to everyone who's been hear advising me, making me a better shadetree mechanic, but still a shadetree. Just got the timing belt/water pump changed at a new mechanic recently. It vibrates noticeably when idling transmission engaged or not. I also happened to notice one day when my wife started the car and I was behind the car, I heard it cough and then could hear the motor puffing out the exhaust, like pugh, pugh, pugh, pugh, etc. It used to be just a soft dull roar. Car lacks power to climb large hills, and the fuel mileage was down 2-4mpg depending on speeds, on a recent 1500 mile trip. The engine also runs a little hotter, maybe 5-10 degrees. None of this was happening before the timing belt change.
So I believe the timing mark is off to the right of the mark by 1 tooth on the passenger camshaft, when looking at it. I always thought the timing was probably off, but research here basically said that the passenger timing mark is always where the problem is at because when the belt is tightened, is pulls the camshaft to the right, therefore now off by one tooth, so it need to be placed 1 tooth before the timing mark, then tighten the belt, and rotate the engine 2 revs to check it.
Mechanic checked it with his $7000 computer and said the timing is fine. Motor mounts are fine. Harmonic Balancer is fine. First question is on this computer. Does it just give a range, or will it tell the timing is exactly where it's supposed to be? Second.....I've read through the dodge repair manual. Can the top timing cover be loosened, rotate the HB to where the timing marks line up and check them visually? Or is there an easy way to do this without taking the whole thing apart?
Thanks, Chris
First and foremost thanks to everyone who's been hear advising me, making me a better shadetree mechanic, but still a shadetree. Just got the timing belt/water pump changed at a new mechanic recently. It vibrates noticeably when idling transmission engaged or not. I also happened to notice one day when my wife started the car and I was behind the car, I heard it cough and then could hear the motor puffing out the exhaust, like pugh, pugh, pugh, pugh, etc. It used to be just a soft dull roar. Car lacks power to climb large hills, and the fuel mileage was down 2-4mpg depending on speeds, on a recent 1500 mile trip. The engine also runs a little hotter, maybe 5-10 degrees. None of this was happening before the timing belt change.
So I believe the timing mark is off to the right of the mark by 1 tooth on the passenger camshaft, when looking at it. I always thought the timing was probably off, but research here basically said that the passenger timing mark is always where the problem is at because when the belt is tightened, is pulls the camshaft to the right, therefore now off by one tooth, so it need to be placed 1 tooth before the timing mark, then tighten the belt, and rotate the engine 2 revs to check it.
Mechanic checked it with his $7000 computer and said the timing is fine. Motor mounts are fine. Harmonic Balancer is fine. First question is on this computer. Does it just give a range, or will it tell the timing is exactly where it's supposed to be? Second.....I've read through the dodge repair manual. Can the top timing cover be loosened, rotate the HB to where the timing marks line up and check them visually? Or is there an easy way to do this without taking the whole thing apart?
Thanks, Chris