What now?

Last year I replaced the timing belt, all the idlers resealed the water pump, oil pump, converted to the better old style tensioner, new thermostat, radiator hoses, plugs, And a ton of little stuff ended up spending 1000 bucks after rock auto screwed me on the wrong parts. Drove 25k, gas Tank began to leak bad had to park it. Got snow tires, put in a system, Etc tried to enjoy the car before that...

I just repaired the gas tank, redid the rear brake lines new pads and rotors, rims and tires, oil change, ecu, plug wires spent over 700 to get it back on the road, got 1000 miles out of it, now this...

Car won't start. Cyl #1 compression... see attached.

I got in the car to start it and had zero ccompression.

Did everything to prevent a timing belt incident I could but it still failed must have jumped time...

I have wasted so much time and money on this car that I am sick and literally in a very bad spot.

Do you have the timing belt guide that sits over the crank sprocket?

O.

I pulled the timing cover. The car is in time on both cylinders. and cam.

Bad parts: leaking drivers cam seal. Oil pressure sensor needs o-ring. Loose idler pulley lower passenger side. No catastrophic failures.

Compression 1 40 psi (passenger cam)

Compression 2 90 psi (Drivers Cam)

Compression 3 20 psi (passenger cam)

Compression 4 90 psi (Drivers cam)

This is a quote from my old timing belt thread in late 2012:

Got my counting stick out...

 

Mitsuboshi belt has 211 teeth.

 

Old belt has 223.

 

Rock auto confirms...

 

1999 cars have 223 teeth, 1997 and below have 211. Let the record reflect. I can't go after them on it... I already opened up all the packages and installed the idlers and the water pu.p AND i authorized the return for the tensioner issue (but was just going to let the return expire because I was going to use the parts).

 

They specify pretty clearly on the "timing belt" section of the website that there is still a difference. Just have to take it in the pants... They said they'd take it back unopened, now the shits installed.

Confirmed the 45-48 spacing which my car still has...

OK I will give it another shot... Vids/pics if it is messed up.

 

The NEW Mitsuboshi belt I have has the correct timing mark spacing passenger 44-driver side 40.5. The old belt says Made in USA, possibly DAYCO, has 48-45.

Also quotable from the old thread:

A handle of Jack says this car is boobytrapped.

There is no timing belt guide, Osei, belt pinches in between the cam notches for the crank sensor and the crank pulley itself. cant come off.

Spooln30, this was a sudden onset thing. One day I'm whomping on it having fun and cruising getting 25mpg, let it sit a couple days, dead in the water. In 2012 car had 190psi ish across all cyls except cyl 4, that had like 180.

is this a 99 ej22 engine?

does this car run?

have you driven it since the timing belt was replaced?

Bad parts: leaking drivers cam seal. Oil pressure sensor needs o-ring. Loose idler pulley lower passenger side. No catastrophic failures.

the oil pressure sensor does not take an o-ring.

if it is leaking i needs to be replaced.

unless it is not threaded in tight.

loose idler pulley may mean the timing has jumped,

and or bent valves.

did you use the right timing marks?

hash marks, not the arrows.

with those compression numbers,

it is either not timed right

or you have bent valves,

or both.

you are missing something.

look again.

did the belt fail before you replaced it?

how did ti run before you replaced it?

has it ever run well?

Yes, I drove it about 40-50k after replacing it in dec 2012

Car USED to run until... It didnt have enough compression to run after letting it sit a couple days. Go in, turned the key, no compression.

Yes I used the correct timing marks. Hashes not arrows on the cams, dot not arrow on the crank. Counted the teeth between the arrows. 48-45 to the cam center tooth. IF it did move, it doesn't appear to have moved much or it would have had to do a perfect 360.

Its the least critical idler pulley, its loose but it hasn't failed.

No, the timing belt did not fail. PO didn't know when it was last changed, so I spent the time and money and changed it anyway. Didn't really need it.

There was a bad spark plug wire (I just found it a couple weeks ago) so it ran bad and hesitated/misfired for most of those miles. The performance has been excellent after I fixed that problem... until this sudden failure.

Talked to a fellow Legacy owner who had a valve hit the piston... he had zero compression in that cyl. Not just reduced compression like I have.

All the timing marks line up, see attached. Yet I have an out of time condition. We are up to 90 psi in all cyls but I think its because the injectors are plugged in or I've been turning it over so much.

Is there a way I can tell if the timing is off by pulling the valve covers an putting dowels in the spark plug holes and watching the valves?

The cams can only go on one way, and once done and the marks lined up, the engine is in time.

Can't yet help with compression issues, but you are missing a timing belt guide. it is only used on manuals and is designed to keep the belt from jumping when declutching etc.

Tried to locate a pic but couldn't find one quickly. It is u shaped and mounts in the holes on both sides of the crank sprocket.

O.

Yikes. Because the brakes sucked for a long time, I did a TON of double clutch downshifts etc. However, when the car actually messed up... It was just a regular start up.

I just don't understand how you can go from a great running car to a total log of junk.

since you dropped the exhaust,

try turning the crank by hand and pressurizing one cylinder at a time.

listen for hissing, escaping air, at the exhaust and intake.

cylinders 2&4 are low, but not deadly,

and they are the same.

the low numbers could be due to you compression test procedure, maybe.

but 1&3 are a problem.

burnt valves,

bent valves,

dropped valve guides,

or out of time. (i know, you showed us the pics.)

or maybe a severe head gasket failure, loose head bolts?

any chance the crank sprocket and key way is messed up?

this could mean the sprocket is right but the crank shaft is off.

the key way should be at 6 o'clock.

maybe time for a leak down test.

has the passenger side head ever been off the engine?

have you checked the valve clearance?

something may have busted inside the valve cover on the passenger side?

Johnegg, while the exhaust was dropped on the passenger side, i heard definite compression noise coming from the ports. Whoop-whoop... whoop whoop...I pulled the passenger side valve cover everything looked in order. My oil change regimine has it nearly spotless in there.

I turned it over about 25 times and the compression snuck up to 90 psi on the passenger side cyls. I'm going to pour a bunch of marvels mystery oil into the cyls, if the rings are stuck or something weird like that.

Car was originally poorly taken care of from what I can tell the cogged timing sprocket grenaded at one point (tore up inside of the old timing cover which I replaced) and they replaced the head gaskets and maybe one of the heads at that time. The passenger side head is drilled and tapped for different exhaust manifold bolts. Etc little hints.

But after religious oil changes and constant dinking with it even the piston slap went away and it felt like it had another 100k in it.

the cogged timing sprocket grenaded at one point .... and they replaced the head gaskets and maybe one of the heads at that time. The passenger side head is drilled and tapped for different exhaust manifold bolts.

or the studs snapped off and they drilled and tapped for new studs.

maybe they drilled to far?

if the toothed idler crapped out, it likely has bent valves,

unless they replaced / repaired the head.

leak down test,

or pull the head and have it checked.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cylinder-leak-down-tester-94190.html

Wow, the oil in the cylinders trick bought it back to life. Starts and runs like normal. Wtf happened with it to cause this? Big thanks to all that helped!

I have a belt that got oil on it and several leaks to deal with. Should I replace the belt? The white lettering wore off otherwise it just looks slightly damp. Can you reseal the he oil pressure sensor with permatex say? or is it needing to be replaced

I guess I am going to use the old timing belt, all the old idlers, and replace the oil pressure switch and add the timing belt guide that is missing (I DRIVE HARD) I have no idea how this didn't jump timing before if thats so important...

Thanks Osei for noticing that was missing.

I guess I'll have to start running Marvels Mystery Oil as 2 stroke to keep the compression up or something. God I hate my life and my junk vehicles... lol...

and add the timing belt guide that is missing (I DRIVE HARD) I have no idea how this didn't jump timing before if thats so important...

i know they have these on the third gen engines,

but they have different id numbers,

ej251 vs. ej253, i think.

i'm not sure they had this part on the second gen ej25D or the ej22E, idk.

Because my engine burnt oil and had bottom end noise I'm looking at an SVX swap.

A friend of mine is attempting one in a couple weeks.

Looking at replacing the head gaskets instead. I don't have the time or space or money for such a swap right now.

If HGS were done I can use the car this winter in all its glory. I'm tearing it down tonight probably to see what's up.

Wish me luck....