Extended Crank Problem!!! Help!!

[chocolatekis6]

HELP!!!!!!! I HAVE BEEN HAVE SOME EXTENDED CRANK PROBLEMS SINCE REPLACING MY TIMING BELT. NOT ONLY DOES IT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE EXTENDED CRANK BUT IT ALSO IDLES VERY HIGH AFTER CRANKING IT, THEN IT GOES BACK TO NORMAL.....ANY SUGGESTIONS.

THANKS IN ADVANCE.

[HATEnFATE]

Well first start with the obvious....did anything move when you change your timing belt? you made sure all the marks lined up?

Did you damage any sensors?

[barthmonster]

The belt itself is SO EASY to get off by just a little bit. Extended cranking and low power might be 'retarded', hard to notice because it probably runs smooth otherwise... I myself did my timing belt 3 times when I did it. First it ended up a little advanced and would ping, but ran fine otherwise. Then it was 'retarded' since I adjusted it only 1-tooth on the wrong gear (crank). The 3rd time I realized that the smallest adjustment you can possibly make is 1-tooth on the big (camshaft) gear, so using an inspection mirror I got it perfect. Only took 2 weeks, but I learned plenty...

[Digger1]

Choco,

There is an outside chance your problem could be caused by improper timing belt tension. It is my experience that improper (loose) timing belt tension could cause your valve timing to be off by one timing belt tooth.

Here is a trick to properly tension the timing belt on a 5S-FE engine (see signature block for specifics on the car):

As per the instructions in the FSM and Haynes manual, I positioned the crank at TDC and positioned the camshaft at the TDC position. However, when installing the belt, I could not get rid of some excess slack in the front of the belt (the part that runs forward from the top of the camshaft pulley to the waterpump pulley). I could not pull the belt any tighter, since the most I could pull it toward the camshaft pulley was only about half a tooth of belt length.

So, here is what I did to remedy the situation:

I pulled the belt back off of the camshaft pulley. Note that the tensioner pulley was temporarily fixed in the "loose" position, as per earlier instructions in the repair manuals. I then turned the crankshaft 5 degrees counterclockwise. It was now at 5 degrees BTDC. I then put the belt back on the camshaft pulley. The camshaft pulley was still at the TDC position.

I then rotated the crankshaft 5 degrees clockwise to TDC and checked my alignment. Voila! Spot on! The small rotation of the crankshaft had merely taken up slack in the timing belt and did not move the camshaft pulley. Just to be sure, I rotated the crank through 720 degrees and checked my alignment again. Spot on! Ever skeptical, I cranked 'er up (after setting the tensioner pulley as per the instructions) and ran the engine for a few minutes without the upper timing belt cover in place. I shut 'er down and checked the alignment again. Spot on!

Best of all, the forward portion of the timing belt was now properly tight.

[Gary_602Z]

^ Yep what everybody said!

Gary