Thread: Timing chain slipped!

i was parked on a hill and i put it in third so it wouldnt roll, but the car rolled backwards, and jumped back like 5 times... i think the timing belt slipped back because the car doesnt start up it just turns over, would that make sense or what should i do? the car has 240,000 km and idk if it has a new timing belt cuz i just bought the car recently! i want to get it going as soon as possible cuz i need my car for work! let me know what i should do cuz im not sure.. im guessing im just going ot have to take the valve cover off and set the timing again... how long do you think that would take?? :/
THANKS

If this is an SR they dont have timing belt. They have chains. Basicly what happened is going backwards in 3rd turned the motor over backwards and yes that could cause the chain to skip if the conditions were right, if it wont restart its probably what happened.

yes its an SR and i was just thinking about that after i said it but i wasnt sure if it had a belt or chain. and how long do you think it would take to set the timing chain?

For someone that has never done it, probably an hour or so. You will need to put the motor at TDC on the compression stroke. #1 Cam lobes would have been pointing away from each other but depending on how far it skipped they probably wont be pointing anywhere near where they are supposed to. In that case set the motor to TDC, remove the chain tensioner, Put the cam sprocket dowel pin on the exhaust cam at 12 oclock straight up and then from the dot on the gear count 20 chain pins and put the next cam dot after the 20th pin so you have 20 pins between the dots on the gears. The dowel on the intake cam will be pointing to 10 oclock position. Reinstall the tensioner by recompressing it and securing it with the hook, reinstall and then turn the motor over by hand until the tensioner releases, you will hear a click and you can visually look down and see the hook release from the plunger. Rotate two full revolutions on the motor until back at tdc and make sure the dowels come back to the 10 and 12 positions and 20 pins between the dots on the gears. If so then good to go.

If you have the stock crank pulley the second timing mark from the left is the TDC 0 deg mark. Pretty simple to do.

You will have to do one of two things, either remove the cam gears from the cam, rotate the cam to where its in position then reinstall the gear positioned right on the chain or remove the cams completely and reinstall them in the right position. If your not afraid to work it and move the crank around to get slack in the chain where needed you can do it without removing the gear or cams just skipping chain over the teeth of the gear while rotating the cam where it needs to be and putting the crank back at TDC. You can do it however you feel comfortable.

If you do remove the cams or gears there are torque specs on the cam caps and gear bolts that need to be followed. Feel free to use the FSM's on here or get the torque spec from the How To section under Engine Torque Specs

Thanks so much, my torque wrench only goes down to 10 so i dont know if thats low enough and can i get a link to FSM? and this is really going to help alot ill tell you how it goes tomorrow cuz i want to finish doing this all tomorrow! cuz i need my car for work! and how do i know if im in TDC? cuz everything is going ot be screwed up cuz it wont actually be TDC if the valves are timed wrong! i guess ill have to look at it myself and then once i see it i will understand a little more! and if i still have more questions then ill ask them then! Thanks so much glad to have people who know what they are talking about to help me out!

and do you think my timing chain is streched?

It's most likely stretched, but all high mileage engine's chains would be. Not significant though, just a bit. If your tensioner is good it will take up that tiny bit of slack. The chain is supposed to last the engine's lifetime. You don't replace them periodically like the rubber belts.

Yeah i wouldnt worry about your chain being streched. Thats not the cause of the skippage. Next time your on a hill facing up, put the car in reverse, it will help hold the car as well as the ebrake. And if it does move it will turn the motor over the right way. Last thing you want is the motor to turn in the opposite direction. lol.

or put the wheel right next to the curb to where it'll barely hit it

Or just fix the damn E-brake already. lol