My son's Tracker runs terribly. He bought it this way cheap a month ago, but it still looks great and doesn't burn any oil. So I put a ObdII reader on it only to get a dtc of P0300, which I could have told the reader before it told me. The timing was advanced to the limit of the screw stop so we left it that way to get it home when we bought it, and thought that I would do a variety of adjustments, tune up, etc later on. Well that was not to be. The plug wires are alright and the plugs are in excellent shape. Here's the deal. It runs with pretty good power while in this advanced distributor position but idles terribly. However when I regress the timing to where it should be, it runs great and steady, but has very poor power when you drive it. So I put it back to the advance position and therefore in the terrible idling state with a lot of fuel usage. Fuel pressure is normal. No other trouble codes are shown except that it overheated for my son the other day for a bit and a temperature trouble code shows as well. The vacuum is pretty steady at 20.5 in mercury. Now when he overheated the other day he was low on antifreeze (about a gallon). This was the same condition of the car when we first bought it. I didn't think anything of it when he bought it because there was evidence that the bleed hole in the water pump was leaking a bit, and I thought "well, could be worse; we'll just replace the pump when it gets worse; in the mean time he'll have a car he needs to attend a local junior college". But in a few hours the leaking stopped from the water pump and so I thought great, we eliminated one problem. But now I'm thinking we may have a blown head gasket, but then why would I have such steady vacuum and why isn't there any evidence in the exhaust? And really should the engine run that badly if we have a leak at the head gasket siphoning antifreeze , and then only to run perfectly when I regress the timing to normal? I guess not. I doubt that it's the timing belt because I would see it in the vacuum numbers. There is no evidence of an external engine antifreeze leak anywhere. What do you all think? Do I have a blown head gasket? Or a combination of things?
Let me know.
Wes
many issues. COMBO car.
will do them in order of show stopper.
overheating:
the holes you mention are on the back side of the WP seal.
if that seal is bad then the bearings are toast, ( no buts...)
the wp is junk , ignore it and it WILL strand you and possible warp the head or crack the block. why risk that?
Bad Head gasket.
Does your engine eat coolant for breakfast, hard to tell with bad WP.
if it does , then it has a serious issue here.
there is a test (cheap ) that checks for exhaust gases in the RAD.
this test will save you lots of guessing.
Last; timing.
Both kinds:
If this is a high mileage car then it probably needs a new Timing belt.
you didnt say if it was a 16v or 6 valve. if the latter is Interferance type. Snap, boom there goes an the engine.
Tje OBD2code reader just said misfire.! hummm....
but then again, it really is not that always. (spark wise)
in english what it should really say is:
Something is causing one of my cyclinders to not produce the proper power level ( it measures dynamic crank accereration "Power").
could be igniton, could be weak compression, burned valve ,cracked piston or a bad head gasket.
I'd get a full compresson test , just based on worry of head gasket.
I'd pull a full 60k mile tune up and a new Tbelt and idler and pump.
assuming the compression is good.
Thanks for the input. It is in fact a 16v with 110K on the odometer. I'll be investigating further. But then why still the puzzle that the engine idles perfectly when I backup the timing so the mark is right on or near 5deg , but has very little power upon acceleration? I will do a full compression test. Good idea, and I should have done that last week but didn't have time. But you're right, it's simple, and essential.
Incidentally, the dtc of P0300 is all cylinders misfiring without a specific one identified. All suggestions are welcome, and as always appreciated.
Wes, Oak Park, Ill
yes, each year range its different . DIZZY then coil on plug. or DIS.
the newer cars can ID the exact number or down to a pair of cylinders misfiring.
the pervious poster refers to the slipped crank pulley syndrome.
bad news. rare if PO followed manual instructions, eg:torque and Lock tite.
if it were mine (imho) :
I'd set the torque on the crank bolt to spec ( 4th gear , emg.brake set)
Id watch it like a hawkl when doing so, to see if it moved? (the bolt head moved)
if it moved even a tad, I'd be more suspisious. !!!
in the old days, some cars had no timing marks.
Hard to believe huh? like some British MG's , Triumphs, i forget. 60's
so how do you do them.?
the clue here, is to use the old tried and true procedure to validate your timing. And doesnt require cam cover removal (the obvious choice since the timing is marked inside, too)
YOU can buy or make a TDC gage.
I use a tye wrap or better a childs plastic drinking straw.
something that can't break.
Best with 2 people , one cranks , other looks.
pull #1 plug , insert straw.
rotate crank untill straw says perfect tdc. USING socket wrench on crank nut.
you will have to average the 2 points when pistion is at the top. ( average CW , then CCW points)
when done, look at the crank mark against the plastic case cover gage, to see if
the timing is correct. ZERO !
In the old days this was called DEGREEING the crank pully.
Those Brits, were wild and whooly bunch back then. huh?
This is a 16v engine and as such it is an Interferance type.
If you do a new TBelt , Triple check the timing or the valves will kiss
(smash is more appropriate) the Pistons.
Is yours AUTO or 5sp manual, important for locking crank.?
Hello All:
Had a chance to check things out a bit more thoroughly over the weekend. Discovered that compression is pretty darn good, 152-160. Also discovered that there is a weep hole in the front of the water pump as first stated, but it turns out that isn't what's leaking. It looks like a bad hose which I didn't see at first, from somewhere under the pump where there are a group of hoses. I'll check it out more precisely when I do the larger work which is addressed next. Did the TDC check (the straw worked great) and found that the distributor is off about 15 deg., I'm guessing. Likely the belt has skipped a tooth, or stretched. I will replace in the next day or so.
I'll let you know how things work out.
Regards,
Wes, Oak Park, Ill
great find !
the p0300 , is vauge ,because the new ecu's have a 2 CAS sensors..
one on CAM and One on Crank.
with both it can determine which cylinder i s firing.
there are exceptions to this (old jeeps 88) had a triple hole at TDC #1 to flag #1.
some 96 Trackers have DIS ignition (coil on plug) and will say 2 are failing at once. I believe this is because of parallel circuits in the IGNITOR.(no proof) ( I believe this is the 1.8L model sport)
Hello jtgh:
Well I replaced the belt tonight. Really a very simple job, but in order to determine what mm the bolts are in a variety of places such as the crank pully, it took some experimentation. I actually would have never suspected 8mm on those. I kept thinking that there was so much rust on the bolts that the 10mm I was trying to use (you really can't see the bolt head and it felt like a 10mm to me) was having a difficult time seating and so it kept slipping. Then I tried a 9mm and that spun as well, but I thought that it was spinning on top of the head of the bolt, and therefore kept reverting to 10mm. Finally it dawned on me that perhaps these are 8mm but hardened, which they were and the rest went smoothly. I did find that the bolts holding the radiator shroud were rusted at the bottom and difficult to remove without breaking something. This took a little ingenuity, but happened.
To get back to the belt, the original was in remarkably great shape. I thought for a moment that it had been replaced by the previous owner and at that moment started contemplating what other weird problem could be causing the poor running because the marks were pretty much right on. But upon putting the new belt on I realized how tight this new one is, and am hoping that the looseness is causing the timing problem. I won't know this until tomorrow, because I decided to replace the water pump upon realizing that it is buried partly under the timing belt and cover, and I'd hate to do this all over again. This decision was also reached because I wasn't able to find the leaking hose which I thought would be obvious at this point in disassembly. I for the life of me cannot find a leak anywhere, although did see one again Sunday on the ground in the process of my continued diagnosis of this engine misbehavior but couldn't trace it. I figure it's got to be the pump, although the inside of the timing gear area is dry of ethylene glycol, but I could see some traces of the green stuff on the outside right body of the pump as it nears the belt/gear cover. Can't seem to find out where it's coming from. I hope not from the head. I don't think so. Anyway, I ordered a pump which will be in Tuesday. I've gotten this far why not go a bit further and not worry about it this winter.
Thanks for your help and further suggestions are very welcome.
Wes, Oak Park, Ill
my gosh this is not your winter , sacrificial car ?
you are correct , 8mm
dont feel bad, sometimes the fluid can piss from a hose crack or RAD tube and really fool you.
the belt and idler.
the trick here , is to undo all the valve adjusters
why? (per manual)
well unlike other cars with a hefty spring, these have a wimpy spring on the idler.
so with the pressure of the cams to lifters loose, that tiny little spring ,sets the tension. then you lock down the idler forever. (left side of belt must be tight)
left = from drivers seat.
Once this tension is set , it is for the life of this belt.
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96 Geo Tracker p0300
Linear Mode
