91 4cyl timing issues

[awilson]

So just changed my timing belt (previous was missing teeth) and had to re-time the engine. Set pulley to tdc 0 and set cam gear to vertical mark through hole in gear. This took about twenty tries since you cannot see directly into the hole and line up the mark on the cam gear. Finally rotated engine to TDC 0 and place a toothpick with nail polish through the cam gear hole to make sure it was lined up perfectly as well. Now the engine idles very high(not sure exactly no tach) and upon timing I could not get the mark on 10 because I had rotated the distributor completely counterclockwise til it stopped. I could only get the mark at around 14ish, upon test drive I could barely get the car above 20mph very bogged down and zero power.
A few questions:

1. Could I be one tooth off on my timing? (I'll have to check the marks again)

2. I am getting an error code 51, could this have to do with my high idle?

3. what is the purpose for connecting TE1 and E1 when timing the car?

[71Corolla]

Your timing belt is very likely off. Take a look at this thread, especially the part where you see the use of a mirror to check the camshaft marks. You need a mirror, it is almost impossible to do it correctly without one.

The jumper wire disables the electronic timing advance so you can set the timing properly, otherwise the timing will be jumping around all over the place as the engine auto adjusts based on the various sensors. Your code, not sure what caused that but get your camshaft timing correct first and go from there.

[96paseo]

You can also look behind the cam sprocket to see the notch. Then put a small allen wrench through the sprocket hole to see if it lines up with the notch. However, as mentioned a mirror is much easier.

[white90dx]

Make sure you are using the mark that is vertical with respect to the engine, not the ground. It will be back about 10-15* from true vertical. I used a small allen wrench and felt for the correct hole.

Luckily, you only have to remove the upper timing cover to fix the belt mis-alignment.

-Charlie

[awilson]

over the weekend I re-checked the timing with a mirror(I appreciate the link to the photos) and sure enough timing was exactly on, I even set the cam gear back one tooth just to see if I could get the ignition timing correct but did not work. So I re-set the timing to both marks and it is dead on. The car does run but I cannot retard the ignition timing enough to get anywhere near 10 degrees. I know that sounds like I have the mechanical timing off but I know its exactly lined up with 0 on the pulley and the vertical line on the cam gear. The car does idle way too high, along with error code 51, could the high idle be advancing the ignition to where I cannot time it correctly with the distributor? I plan on cleaning out the throttle body and checking the throttle position sensor and ISC valve to see if that's why it might be idling so high.
Another issue (perhaps related to the above problem) is my gas mileage. Before I changed the timing belt I got horrible mileage and I figured It would be quite a bit better after. I drove down to the beach yesterday bout 55 miles round trip and used almost a half tank! any bright ideas are greatly appreciated

[dem2757]

clogged fuel filter might be doing the sputtering/ horrible gas mileage. basically unless you can pinpoint the source of ignition and fuel problems, its a goose chase.

[white90dx]

Just to confirm, you are putting in the jumper while setting the timing, right? Even with the jumper in place, if the RPMs are too high it will change the timing and not allow you set the timing correctly. I think it needs to be below 1200rpm or so with the motor warm.

Check for vacuum leaks and other possible reasons the car isn't idling right. We can probably check off the timing belt for now. The distributor should be near the middle of its adjustment range when everything is right, so keep looking for other possibilities.

-Charlie

[Doctor J]

while reading code 51 make sure that your a/c switch is not pushed in;
if it is out, the TP sensor may be out of adjustment