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1996 2.3 Timing trouble




illili

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Not a foolish question, but a rather foolish answer.

Ford, instead of putting the camshaft position sensor on the camshaft, decided the oil pump was a better spot. :beer:

So if the oil pump gear is not in sync with the cam+crank, it'll throw off your ignition timing and your fuel injection timing.

Believe this is true for all 95+ at least until the Duratech came onto the scene.
Thanks captain, Now I know for sure that the oil pump needs to be lined up too with the diamond. Hopefully I'll get another whack at this whole timing thing this weekend...and hopefully all goes well!
 

illili

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When I properly aligned the oil pump gear to the diamond (when I eventually found the blasted mark under all the crud) and not the triangle it cleared my engine right up. I had a fancy scanner hooked up to it and it was kicking my ignition timing advanced 40-50°. sputters, misfires, very easy to stall in the lower rpm's, poor performance all the way around. After alignment, everything was good to go. The crank keyway was vertical on all attempts.

Took it apart and back together 3 times before I finally figured it out, put probably 4,000 miles on it running like shit because I had to.
Hmm, the consensus is definitely that the oil pump needs to be aligned as well. One thing of possible note to everyone helping me is that my new timing belt is slightly longer than the old one but has the same distance between all the teeth. In theory the increased length shouldn't matter, so long as the teeth are the same right?

Also, any tips or tricks that anyone came up with for getting the timing right because everyone seems to have tried several times before getting it? Thanks again to all replies! :)
 

deere_construction

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i would think lenth is a factor. are u sure u have the correct belt. if anything the new one should be small due to the old being stretched from use. a trick i would have done if i didnt have to do my tension when i did mine is cut ur belt in half with wise and slide the new one on and then cut the rest of the old one off. it also helps alot with 2 people. one person to do the tensioner and the other to slide on the belt.
 

Captain Ledd

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My credo
If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning.
i would think lenth is a factor. are u sure u have the correct belt. if anything the new one should be small due to the old being stretched from use. a trick i would have done if i didnt have to do my tension when i did mine is cut ur belt in half with wise and slide the new one on and then cut the rest of the old one off. it also helps alot with 2 people. one person to do the tensioner and the other to slide on the belt.
Length is not a factor. Gear tooth count determines the ratio.

Picture this:

You take a bicycle and lengthen it so the rear tire is now a full 2ft farther back. The only thing you change is the chain length. Nothing there changes the number of times the gears turn, the only difference is the tire is in another spot.

The ONLY thing I'd be concerned about is if the tensioner has enough travel to put the proper tension on the belt so it doesn't skip time. But if the belt is just somewhat tight it should be good, these belts aren't made to stretch much at all. Really it just needs to be taught. I'm sure there's a specific spec for it but I have no idea what it is.
 

Autto27

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and dont worry about if its off at first you can go back and re-time it if nessistary... the 2.3 is a non interferance. so no worrys about hitting any valves.
 

96GTS

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Hi, first post here. Just got a 96 Ranger from my step brother. A "mechanic" replaced the timing belt and water pump. Ran like absolute crap. I took it apart and found out he lined up the cam/oil pump gears using the indentations on the gears, not the diamond/triangle markings. I put it back using the correct markings. I lined up the "dimple" on the crank sprocket w/ the notch in the rear timing cover per this common diagram:



With the dimple and notch lined up, the timing mark on the outer crank pulley was at 10* ATC. No way to get the dimple and notch to line up while the timing pointer and TDC mark on plastic cover also line up. Not gonna happen. So I used the dimple/notch per the diagram and I also figured the crank gear is what actually controls spark (crank sensor reads off the gear).

So it's back together runnning 100 Xs smoother than before, but now I have a miss in cyl #4 (P0304). I haven't started checking the normal spark/fuel stuff yet. With the timing light, it's at about 25ish degrees timing at idle.

But now I see this and I'm worried:
Ignore the dot on the crankshaft gear, just make sure the keyway is straight up. This will be TDC, I don't know what that dot is used for.
I don't know if the crank key way is at 12:00 since I didn't have to plull the crank pulley off. Do I need to pull it all apart again and use the TC mark on the plastic cover? Or is my cyl 4 miss more than likely caused by something else....??

Anyone know what timing should be at idle? 3000 RPMs? I know we can't adjust it bc of the coil packs, but I'd like to know if I'm that far off at 25* at idle.....???

Thanks so much for the help! Been scouring this site for the last week and have learned sooo much w/o even posting an intro LOL. Hope to be around more often!! :icon_cheers:
 

96GTS

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Disregard my last post. Figured it out. Used the stethoscope. #4 injector wasn't clicking off. When I connected it after cleaning them, I didn't put the plug on square and bent the contacts over. For the first time, this thing is purring! :yahoo:

Thanks for listening to me whine! :icon_cheers:
 
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96GTS: that post is the same one as th one I posted in the first page of this thread-http://www.therangerstation.com/foru...d.php?t=119214
 

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