2001, 5 speed, 4 cyl, 210K

Just had timing belt/water pump/crankshaft seals replaced two days ago. Also had cv joints and ball joints/steering forks replaced too.

When shifting into gear now, car is sluggish and then shudders mildly until the engine hits 3000rpms then I guess the transmission kicks in and it takes off, happens mainly in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear.

It's been "one of those weeks", what could this problem be and how much is it going to cost me??? looks like the start of another one of those weeks.

 

did it have this issue before replacing the t-belt ??? if not , i would make sure that cam timing is ok, + balancer shafts are properly aligned.......Again,, if issue has occurred since t-belt job, take it back and have them fix the problem

plugs and wires ok ???chk engine lite on ??

why did they replace steering forks ??

 

it definitely didn't have the issue when I dropped it off to them, timing belt was fine was just at the 100K mark to switch it out.

Plugs and wires are all less than a year old, 30K miles. The check engine light did just come on this morning (2 days after the new t belt was put in), it was even blinking for awhile, I'm taking it in at 9 to see what they say, it better not be any more $$$ out of pocket.

 

This really sounds like the timing is a tooth off.
Give the mechanics a chance to make it right for you.

 

OK here's the deal,

They double checked the timing belt/tensioner/cam shaft, all was good.

engine code was for misfires in #1, 2 and 4, plug wires were arcing and the distributor contacts were worn and the spark plugs had big ole gaps in them (checked my records, thought it was 1yr/30K miles ago turns out it was 2yrs and about 45k). They also checked some Vtech solenoid?? but that wasn't the problem.

So replaced dist cap, plugs and wires and she's back to purring like a kitten.

Good news too and rekindling some faith in dealers, they admitted that they should have caught this when it was in for the timing belt change out, they said they should have checked all those "tune up parts" I think they called it, so labor was N/C and just had to pay parts (with a discount), so all in all a good experience (I had my stern look and arguements for when they came out with the "you need another $1000 in repair" routine). Mechanic even jumped in with me for a road test but I respectfully declined the free car wash (hasn't been washed in 5 years why start now, she might not start up if I wash her).

So at 210,000 miles we've got new timing belt, water pump, seals and stuff, plugs, wires and dist. Staring 300K in the face. hehehe

 

One other thought:

Is it just coincidence that the plugs/wires/dist "went up" right after the timing belt was switched out? or would switching the timing belt out have some sort of "cause" to it (so to speak, obviously the plugs/wires/dist were on their way out).

 

The plug wires were probably removed in order to remove the valve cover & timing covers. So if the plug wires were "on their last breath" they probably didn't like being disturbed. So that's a kind of cause/effect, but you can't blame them for the wires being nearly bad to start with.

 

Please don't get me wrong I wasn't looking to place blame, in fact I had the plug wires disconnected the day before (literally) for when I was replacing the valve cover gasket (and snapped a bolt for overtorquing which upped the time frame for the timing belt replacement), also in retrospect I was having some acceleration/power issues which I guess where then exaggerated after the timing belt was replaced to I guess everything was in that fragile state so it was semi ironic that it was that noticeable the day after the work was done.

In the end I'm glad it was identified and fixed easily and cheaply and a nice change of pace to see a shop say not that they were wrong but the missed something and make it right.