OK, as some of you know, I just finished up a big job (which included timing belt, water pump, camshaft seals, serpentine belts, coolant drain and refill, oil change, power steering fluid drain and refill) on my Eclipse and I've been overloading some places on the forum with pictures.

Now I have an issue that I can't diagnose and I'm not sure what to do.

I ran the engine for awhile last night after getting everything put back together and everything seemed a-ok. This morning, I started it up and let it idle for a few minutes before pulling out down the road. Seemed fine for about 1.5-2 miles and then it started to make a squealing sort of noise (as I recall) that I attributed to a belt being loose. Then the check engine light came on so I swung around and returned home to take the Volvo to work. As I was driving away I noticed a small mist of whitish smoke trickling off the exhaust pipe.

So, tonight I had a little bit of time to look at it. I checked the belts and they all seem fine. I noticed some oil around the first cylinder's spark plug (near the oil cap). I checked it and it seemed high, but there was oil all up the dipstick. So, I decided to drain it out and refill it slowly, checking the oil after every quart. I got it to about midway between low and high, so I should be in a good place for oil.

Now I restarted it and I have issues again. The CEL is still on and upon inspection there is smoke coming from around the thermostat (appears to be originating beneath it). I have a really poor sense of smell so I can't tell if it's coolant or oil (my wife would normally check smells for me, but she's a bit queasy right now and in bed with a migraine). I inspected around the upper radiator hose and noticed there was coolant pooled on the top of the radiator. I didn't notice it before so I can't tell when it got there. Also, I can't see any real traces of coolant along the upper radiator hose, so I'm tempted to think I spilled it when topping off the reservoir today (which I also noticed was low, but not empty, during my check).

What I really want to do is take it somewhere to pull the codes since the light is on. Any opinions on if it is safe to drive? I'm going to try and post a video in a little bit.

Sorry for the lengthy post, I wanted to cover the whole story.
Thanks in advance for any advice/help.

***EDIT/UPDATE***
I went to try and take a video of it and a) the camera died on me, so I can't see the screen while it's video-taping and b) I don't see any smoke. After the engine runs for a few minutes though it starts running fairly rough. It's like every 5-10 seconds, it chokes up a bit and the RPMs come down.Also, when it started getting rough I noticed that it sounded better if I pushed on the timing belt cover. I can't tell if something is knocking the cover or if it's just a general shaking of the engine.

 

OK, I found this thread.

Now, is it the Volvo or the Eclipse that is suffering? The squeal was probably the alternator belt that was a bit loose and it may have turned the CEL. On Japanese makes the belt has to be installed with quite a bit of tension, though not so much that it stresses the bearings on pulleys. A belt tension gauge would be helpful, but the one sold by Snap-on is about $150([:@]) and often there is not much room to put the darn thing in there. If it was the timing belt (which I highly doubt since they are cogged belts), your engine would have gone to heaven by now so the T-belt should be fine, though I don't know why it runs better when you push on the cover[&:]. If you believe the belt is knocking against the cover, the tensioner may be retiring, though they should last for a while. I replaced the one on my 850, only because during the compression procedure it leaked a few drops of oil, even though I was super careful.

If it's the Volvo that is suffering, is it '93-'95? If not, you do need an OBD-II scanner and I cannot tell if it's safe to drive it to a shop as it is. I wonder what Tech would say.


JPN

 

I'm still on the Eclipse (that's why I'm still in the off-topic category). I'll try tightening up the alternator belt. I am starting to wonder if the timing might be just one tooth off or something, but I don't really want to have to pull off the cover (and all associated parts) to find out. I might try checking TDC with a compression gauge (I can at least see the camshaft sprockets to check their positions).

Thanks for responding again!

 

the timing belt of a 420a cant slip, it can only jump...and ive seen a few of them jump time...if that is the case, it wouldnt run, and youll almost surely have valve damage. the engine does not have much clearance, so a tooth off would likely cause valve to piston interference, and if not, it would run poorly.

 

That's good to know. I knew it was an interference engine but I didn't know how sensitive it was. I guess I got the timing set properly since it is running. I'm going to go ahead and drive it to Autozone this weekend and pull the codes. That's the only way to really get an idea what's going on. Hopefully, it was just overfilled with oil. I only drove a little way so hopefully it didn't cause any major damage and after I get the code cleared, it'll slowly get back into good operation as the oil works its way out of areas it shouldn't have gone.

 

Well, I got to Autozone and pulled the codes this morning. There was just one code: P1390, which says that the timing is off by one tooth or more. The car seems to be running fine except at idle, the engine drops to about 600RPMs instead of just under 1000 normally. So, I assume I must be off by just one tooth or there'd probably be damage and a noticeably poor running engine. Looks like I get to take it all apart again today and adjust the timing by one notch. At least this time the method of getting to it is fresh in my mind so I should be able to get it all done fairly quickly.

 

Yup, that's what it was. It only took an hour and a half to get it all apart and now I'm taking a break for lunch with my wife and son. Looks like it was off by about one tooth.

 

.


JPN

 

Just to finalize this. I got it back together and it's working perfectly now! Took about 2 hours to get it back together. I busted my finger up pretty bad though when it got jammed between the power steering pump and its bracket. The majority of the nail is black now. I'm going to try and drain it later today, the throbbing is very distracting at work.

 

[:@][sm=boohoo.gif]

Make sure to drain contaminated blood completely, disinfect thoroughly with approved disinfectant and have a Volvo dealer, I mean, a doctor, do a post-injury inspections.


JPN

 

I'm getting caught up on threads since I've been slammed at work recently. Did 25 hours on Sat/Sun and worked from 9am to 4am on Monday!

Anyway, just for anyone who does this in the future. If you have a blackened nail that is throbbing with pain, melting a hole through it by heating up a paperclip until red hot is very effective at relieving pain.

This got me thinking about starting a thread about injuries produced as a result of auto repairs, but I'm nervous to see the results.

 

[:@]!!!


JPN