96 Accord Ex,Vtec 4 cylinder,installed a new timing belt recently and followed the directions to a T.I also used a tech sheet from another forum that shows every step possible to do the job,water pump included if needed.

Whats happening is the car starts and runs fine.When it reaches warm up temps,it stumbles,run rough and sometimes will stall.

I checked all the vacuum lines,plug ins,made sure the 02 sensors were in,etc.I cannot find a reason why its running this way.Check engine light does not come on.Unfortuantely I dont own a scanner to watch it in real time when it goes into closed loop.It feels like its misifring but I cannot find a cause.

I took the belt cover off again,and etc,belt looked fine.Re-installed it,followed the adjustment procedures,etc.

Its doing the same thing,starts up and revs,runs fine.The minute it warms up and I guess goes into closed loop,it runs rough.

With the car off,cold and I rotate the belt and the pulleys by the crank bolt,TDC and everything aligns up just where it should.In fact,I used a paint marker,marked every timing notch and spot,and put the engine to TDC on both the crank pulley and cam pulley before I even took the old belt off.

So the new belt went on in the same place I removed the old one.

I keep thinking maybe I bumped something a tooth off...not sure...but I decided to hook up my timing light,to check the TDC while the engine runs.

With the engine running,fast idle the single timing mark on the balancer does not match the plastic cover V. Its further away closer towards the middle,where TDC would be when aligning up the system.

When the car begins to warm up,the timing mark on the balancer moves closer and closer to the V mark on the timing cover.But once it gets down there,its moving back and forth,and running rough.

I cannot find anything that tells me where the balancer mark or the 3 marks should be showing up while the car is running,and exactly where it should be when warm up.

know this car doesnt have an adjustable distributor,but I used the timing light to see where its flashing.Im thinking I must have done something wrong and the timing may be off,But when I check the engine cold,it all aligns up everywhere,at TDC both top and bottom pulleys and marks.

Sorry this is long,Im trying to be as thorough as possible.Got any ideas?Im scratching my head what I might have done wrong.

 

First, the 96 still had the service connector under/behind the glove box. You can at least check for OBD-I codes with it. Also the timing will jump around, ecu doing its thing, unless you jump that connector.

Just for grins, pull the vac hose off the egr and start the car and let it warm up and see if the same issue is still happening.

 

Thanks..because the car ran fine before I did this job,I wanted to narrow down everything before I start looking elsewhere and chasing a ghost.

Btw,the aldl connector is behind the ashtray on this car...is there another connector behind the glovebox or were you speaking of the same one?

I was also wondering,I know many OBD2 cars need to be driven to go through the pcm reset and check after the battery has been disconnected.Im wondering if maybe it was just running rough because It wasnt being driven?

I heard of some cars running sort of bad until its driven then smooths out.Just wasnt for sure if that was the case with the Honda.I do have another mechanic buddy coming by to give me some ideas and a look over,but so far I cannot find anything I did wrong.If all checks out ok,I will start with the EGR check and go from there.Post back soon and thanks.

 

Under the glove box, there is a blue two-pin connector like in the 94/95 OBD1 accords. You can short that connector to check for codes.

I also believe you short that connector, so the ECU does not adjust the timing, so you can test it.

So before the TB, there were no issues. List everything you replaced/serviced when you replaced the timing belt. Did the problems start right after you replaced that belt?

 

That. See 94 Accord. Rough idle when warm, no CEL

 

I wanted to update..Thank everyone that replied and to Poorman about the egr heads up....I'm relieved somewhat....it was/is the EGR!!! After the car warmed up and began stumbling,unplugging the Egr hose,the problem is gone.

My buddy that is an ASE tech,came by and went over everything with me.He found nothing wrong with my timing belt,set up,and etc.I did it all correctly.

He thinks since the car sat 2 weeks,the EGR might have stuck.Im going to try cleaning,and check the egr passages.I am familiar with the EGR troubles and Eric the Car guys videos,but I never experienced it,and maybe its something I need to check and do.

I guess Im just relieved it isnt something I did wrong with the timing belt install...since I lost some of my hearing,and I cannot always hear if something taps,rattles,burps,farts,sneezes,cough,misses,skip s,etc,like most of you can,I second and triple guess my work,thinking I mist have done something wrong,even if it doesnt appear to be something I did not do wrong.

 

Thanks for posting.Now that I found the problem is from the egr,Im going to flip the 2 tiny hoses from the egr system along the metal lines,somewhat next to the abs unit,around to see if it affects anything.When I was installing the power steering rack,I was unplugging vacuum hoses and whatever was in the way,to allow my arms to fit down the side of the engine etc to reach the lines way back there.Maybe its possible I unplugged the vacuum lines and didnt make a note where if one goes into the upper line and the other,into the lower.I might have plugged them in reverse.

 

I wanted to Update and announce that I solved the problem of the egr.It turned out that I did plug the 2 small vacuum hoses in the wrong lines.Its pretty easy to get them reversed,and once I switched them back,no more egr problems or stumbling.

I feel great,the car runs great,and Im glad it wasnt anything to do with the timing job.Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Very glad to see that your problem has been set to Run Good now..

 

Glad it worked out.

I was way out on the limb.....I was wondering if the two egr hoses that go to the fender got switched.

How or why was I thinking that.....lets just say you are not the first person that has done that so don't feel bad.

THANKS for the follow up Too many times we never know the end of the story.