Car bogging after timing belt replacement

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Car bogging after timing belt replacement

Postby palehorse13 » Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:29 am

I think I know the answer (check the last 4 words on my subject line) BUT thought I would like to get a sanity check by people who have more experience with K cars than I.
I am working on a 1988 Plymouth Reliant station wagon with a 2.5 motor and automatic transmission power steering and air conditioning.
My girlfriend bought it about 3 years ago with about 48,000 miles and it has been a great little car.
The previous owner supposedly worked for a Chrysler dealer and had all the work done there.
The car now has about 75,000 miles.
Recently my girlfriend was involved in a relatively minor accident but the oil pan was damaged. Ever since the accident the oil pan has leaked.
I should note here that the car ran fine after the accident.
In looking under the car I saw that the shop did NOT replace the oil pan but it appears to have brazed the oil pan damage.
Well I am a Chevy mechanic by experience BUT how hard could replacing an oil pan be?! :oops:
I bought the shop manuals on eBay and read the following regarding how to remove the oil pan: "1. Drain oil and remove oil pan".
I got under the car and saw that I had to take a couple of other things loose but it looked like I had plenty of clearance.
I took all the oil pan bolts out and watched the oil pan fall (about 3/8 of an inch!) :shock:
Can you say "water pump"?!
No amount of talking dirty to it would allow the oil pan to come out from around the water pump housing and even if it had there was no way to put the new oil pan and more importantly the oil pan gasket back with the water pump in the way.
So the water pump had to come off. How hard could that be?! :roll:
So the air conditioning compressor, the alternator and the "solid mount compressor bracket" had to come off as well.
Well then the oil pan dropped off.
Since I had most of the motor torn off I thought I would go ahead and replace the timing belt.
I bought the tensioning tool on eBay and the Goodyear timing belt and new tensioner kit from Rock Auto.
Taking off the old timing belt and putting on the new tensioner and new belt was very straight forward though the old belt seemed very loose and the new belt very tight going on (even without any tension on it).
I believe the engine was at top dead center on #1 cylinder. The mark on the camshaft pulley was showing thru the hole on the timing belt cover and the marks appeared to line up on the crankshaft pulley and the intermediate pulley.
In any case I did not THINK the camshaft pulley/crankshaft pulley/intermediate pulley moved when I put on the new timing belt.
While I was "there" I also replaced all the belts, the upper and lower radiator hoses, the heater hoses and thermostat.
I thought about servicing the transmission but it looks like the trans pan was glued down with about 3 tubes of sealer! That will undoubtedly be the subject of a future post but I digress.
In any case I THINK I put everything else back correctly and hooked up any wires from the wiring harness that needed to be taken loose back where they belong.
When I went to start the car back up she fired right up and idled great.
She was so much quieter with new belts. AND NO LEAKS!!!!
I was strutting around like a "big dog" UNTIL I took the car for a drive.
If you stepped down on the gas she would bog down and take several seconds to start accelerating (no back fire though). Once it got up to speed it ran very well but does not appear to have a lot of power going up hill.
I tried to check the timing and while I found the timing window I cant make out the timing mark on the flywheel.

Is there some wire I might have left off or inadvertently disconnected while changing the hose?

Is there some other "K car magic" I forgot to perform?

I think it is most likely a very simple case of, "car was running great before you changed the timing belt and now it is running poorly, gee what could it be?! :oops:

I wish I could tell you it is the first time I have ever made such a mistake...

Any other thoughts would be welcome
palehorse13
 
Posts: 0
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 2:11 pm
Car Information: 1988 Plymouth Reliant station wagon with 2.5 motor

Re: Car bogging after timing belt replacement

Postby Pete in NH » Wed Feb 05, 2014 2:43 pm

Hi,

My bet would be the timing marks sliped while putting on the new belt. It can happen real easily with a new , tight belt. You often have to "lead" the pulleys a little to make sure they wind up in the right position. You'll see what I mean when you try to slip the new belt into the cog slots and it wants to move the intermdiate shaft a little.

To check the timing you will of course need a timing light, which these days is getting to be an antique tool. I find it very helpful to put some white paint on the proper timing marks and then just line them up instead of trying to read actual numbers on a running engine. If you wind up with the distributor reallty twisted to one side to get the timing close you'll know you slipped a tooth on the belt.

Hope this helps, good luck!
Pete in NH
 
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:47 pm
Car Information: 1986 Plymouth Reliant SE


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