CCCP

Today when I started up the '44 to head home she wouldn't start. The engine would turn over, it would catch for a second then stall out. If I floored it while starting the revs would climb all the way to near redline (I didn't take it past 5K but probably could have), it would sound terrible doing it, then as soon as I let off the gas a lil it'd stall out. I'm almost certain my timing belt skipped a tooth or two or more.... Looks like I'm gonna spend tomorow tearing the engine apart. I hope that there was no piston-valve contact. How many teeth off does it have to be for there to be contact? The car is an 86 na.

Luis de Prat

Whoah. Give a bit more background info on this car, like miles, any prior maintenance done by yourself, previous owner, shop, etc.

Has this car been sitting for awhile? How long have you had it? Why do you suspect the timing belt skipping, have you been putting off getting it replaced?

CCCP

I did the head gasket and timing belt myself about a month ago. Put about 500 miles on it since.I did NOT use a tensioning tool when I did the belt change. I have left the timing covers off and when I press on the belt right below where the distributor housing is it still feels like it has good tension. I don't really see what else the problem could be. But as soon as it stops raining outside I'm gonna tear into it and see what I find.

Zero10

What else it could be, humidity causing arcing on the outside of the distributor cap, some kind of humidity based short in the fuel injector wiring harness, perhaps a FPR that went bad, etc.
Doesn't need to be a timing belt problem, however since it sounds like you're pretty much set up to check it, you might as well start there.
If you used the 90* twist method, then odds are you're alright. The catch is, for most of us simply having the odds in our favor is not enough, we want to be absolutely certain, so we use the tensioning tool.
Let us know what you find.

CCCP

OK I just got back from the timing adjustment. I ended up moving the belt over one tooth as that lined the flywheel marks up pretty much perfectly, and when I stuck a plastic rod into cylinder one it reached its highest point under the new timing. However, It still does the same thing, exactly, I crank it, it seems to fire up to life, then immediatly stalls. How do I go about checking/fixing the other things you mentioned? Yet I am fearing that something is wrong with head now.

xsboost90

could the fuel pump be going?

CCCP

Could be. How do I check it? Is there a relay to trip and listen for the whirring? What else should I check?

xsboost90

hm you would almost have to have a fuel pressure guage. Do you know if its running on all four? Check the plugs and see if all of them are lean-white- or all are real black-rich or maybe a couple are rich and a couple are lean. I had a 924 that two wires were bad-looked perfect-brand new but they werent working. Happens sometimes when its raining too! If someone is with you they could start it after you unplug one wire at a time and see if one or more is not firing. Remember, you need three things to run, air,fuel, and spark. basically.

mark944turbo

I guess there is no autocross for you today

I doubt the problem was anything to do with timing, 1 tooth doesnt make any difference.

The most likely problems are arcing plug wires (have someone watch them while you run the car, preferably in a dark place) and see if you find any arcing.

Other than that, test the output of your airflow meter with a multimeter. Same for the throttle position sensor. Make sure both of those connections are in.

Check what color the exhaust is, and pull the plugs and take pics if none of this works. It sounds to me like you are running on 2 cylinders, and the plugs will show that.

CCCP

I know, I am just fearing that it is mechanicaly damaged. As in a spring broke, valve bent, lifter cracked, something along those lines. I did just trip the DME relay, the fuel pump seems to be working fine. I will go out and check the spark. Any one else have any ideas? Could it be some sensor that got knocked out or broke?

mark944turbo

1 more thing, in an old post you mentioned you were having trouble with the distributor rotor. Make sure it is lined up correctly and still looks like it didnt contact the distributor and destroy itself at some point. What else have you done to the car since it ran last?

And the flywheel sensors, make sure their connections are plugged in well...

CCCP

Hey Mark, I did just pull the spark plugs to turn over the engine, two looked very black, and two looked rather normal. I'll pull them now and take some pics. Also I think two smelled of gas. I just really fear that the head is ****ed somehow.

mark944turbo

If something mechanical broke, it would only effect 1 cylinder. The car will idle on 3 cylinders, just rough. This seems electrical since it will only run at full throttle.

CCCP

Yea I was thinking about the rotor. What happened was the screw that connecteds the rotor adapter to the cam gear broke off. I just left it inplace figuering there wasn't enough force on that bolt to shift the adapter around. It did seem to move a mm or so to the left, partially covering the bolt hole. Think that could be causing the spark that messed up?

mark944turbo

Nope, the rotor contacts for a lot more than 1mm. I do think that if it could move it might swing around and ruin the distributor cap by touching it. But you would probably notice that.