-jeff.

Hello All. I have visited this site a few times for reference material, but this is my first question...

I have a 1999 4Runner (Highlander Edition) that I have owned since new and has never had any major problem. I do some of the maintenance myself (plugs, wires, brakes, rotors, oil, Etc), but recently hit 180K miles and took it to a new shop for my second timing belt replacement.

Since I got it back a few days ago, it is having a tough time starting - slow cranking and then fires up. Once it is running it seems to be OK. Normally I would think that this is related to a battery that is about to die (currently a 2 yr old Optima). However, the engine also seems to come to a fast hard stop when I turn it off. I don't get the couple of revolution wind-down that I am use to. If I had done the job myself, I would think that I over-torqued or over-tensioned something that is causing extra drag/resistance on the engine - but that would just be a guess.

I am taking it back to the shop tonight and wanted to be a little educated on what the cause might be before I walk in there again.

Any thoughts or suggestions on what could cause this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-jeff.

mt_goat

No CEL I guess?

-jeff.

Nope. No engine light.

hross14

IF--they used a good belt it will have the timing marks (White lines) showing where all the timing marks should align. You might want to ask about that and whether or not they verified it was on correctly by rotating the motor and making sure the marks matched the timing marks (720* degrees of ratation I do believe).

aowRS

It almost sounds as if the compression is off somehow.


Andreas

hross14

Or valve timing--more likely--

FYI--if you want to see if the timing is off--take off the front cover and verify the timing makers are spot on.

Remeber cams spin at 1/2 that of the crank or the crank spins twice for ever one revolution of the cams.

-jeff.

Looks like that's my next step and the only way to be 100% sure.

I took it to the shop and they told me the battery is bad. OK, that shouldn't be a problem - it's still under warranty. Then I took it to the auto store and it tested "Good, but low on charge." So, not sure if I'm getting the run around or if the battery is just starting to go bad.

I'll let you know what I find, but it will be later this week before I have time to open it up.

Thanks again for all the help.

ryani

Sounds like the cams are off. I had the same thing happen to me a month ago. Had my 98 in for the timing belt and other goodies. Went to start it and it was very slow. Then when it did it had a V8 lope and sounded terrible. I went and got the mechanic and had him listen.

Long story short the automatic belt tensioner failed to "pop" back out when he pulled the pin. So the belt skipped on the pulleys. That made timing way off.

All is good now. Have a 2000 miles on it and its running great

-jeff.

So, I pulled the cover off and rotated it until the cam timing marks and TDC were all lined up. This looks OK, but the marks on the belt never met up with the cam marks.

Is this a problem, or am I really only concerned that the timing marks all hit at the same time? I rotated several times and the belt marks never did line up with the cam marks.

Cam marks ligned up when crankshaft pulley is at TDC.


Belt marks do not lign up with cam marks.

aowRS

You've found your problem. The belt is marked for a reason.

Who did the timing belt job?


Andreas

mt_goat

Did you get #1 cyl at TDC?

hross14

those marks are there to make sure you have the right number of teeth between all sections...... Take it off and reset it--and you dont have to worry about bending valves--the 3.4 is non-interference.

-jeff.

Since I'm at 180K, I decided to skip the dealer and try a new shop this time to try and save a few bucks. So, if the belt marks don't line up, but the cam and crankshaft marks line up - what is it doing to the engine.

The crankshaft pulley mark is sitting at the 0 deg scale when the cam marks line up. It's my understanding that this indicates that #1 is at TDC. Is there something else I need to check?

-jeff.

Just to be sure, I went out and marked the cam pulleys where they lined up with the belt marks. I then rotated the engine until the belt made one full revolution and found that the belt had shifted by by 1 or 2 teeth. (See Pic below) So, I'm guessing it would eventually work itself around until they lined up again (After a few hundred revolutions).

But --- does this mean that the rotation of the cam and crankshaft are being rotated slightly out of sync? Would this explain why I only have problems starting some of the times? I'm getting a little out of my league here, but want to make sure I fully understand the issue before I go back to the shop.

Thanks Again to everyone who is helping out.

HighLux

If the marks are where they are supposed to be on all pulleys/gears...then its in time. The marks on the belt are to assist lining it up on install.

It dont matter where the marks are on the belt....its the position of the cam pulleys/crank pulley at tdc on number one that matter.

Set to tdc on 1. are the cams where they are supposed to be? forget the marks on the belt. If the crank is set tdc 1 and the cams are where they should be...then its something else.

hross14

the cams spin at half the speed of the crank--fyi...

Why not just reset the belt using the marks?

After 720* of rotation--everything should line back up--but it has to be dead nuts on. Each gear tooth is quite a bit of timing.

Make sure you are abolutely at TDC and the cams are where they are supposed to be--

Then make new marks on the belt as per the manual. Then rotate 720* and see if everything lines back up--BOOM--BOBS YOUR UNCLE!!