Hi everyone. I'm a mechanic from Rhode Island and I've got a doozy on my hands here. I was doing a buddy a favor and changed the timing belt and w/p on his 01 S40. 1.9t, auto tranny.

Things started off kinda strange, using the puller to get the crank pulley off, the crank sprocket came out, too. Didn't get to line up the cams/crank before pulling the belt off. Oh well. Rear exhaust cam has VVT I noticed.

Replaced waterpump. Replaced timing belt. Timing marks are DEAD NUTS ON. Start engine, starts right away, revved it up a bit, seems okay. Put it back together, throw some coolant in it. Kicked out the lift and backed it out of the garage.

Runs like poo. It idles fine. Any amount of acceleration and it feels like a misfire. Put a load on the engine and it picks up/misfires/picks up/misfires.

Checked the plugs. They're wiped. Totally. Unfortunately, we don't stock plugs for a 2001 Volvo S40 1.9t at our shop. And it's 8:10pm on a Sunday, nobody is open. But it ran fine when it first came in.

. Took it apart again. Set timing. Again. Dead nuts on. Still runs like crap.


A few things I'm thinking about:

1: It can not be a timing problem. It runs fine at idle, and at acceleration it'll pick up and fall off like it's your run-of-the-mill misfire.

2: I noticed that when I line up the TDC mark on the crank sprocket/mark on the block, the piston is nowhere near TDC. It's actually 1/8 turn off. It's my understanding that Cylinder 1 has to be at the tippy top of the stroke. So all valves are closed. But, the timing marks say otherwise? Then again, I doubt the engine would run if the crank was 1/8 a turn off. Right? The crank sprocket only goes on one way so I couldnt have screwed that up.

3: Bad valve timing should set a check engine light, P0014 and P0015 from my research. I do not have any codes like that. I have a Misfire 1,2, 3, and 4 pending, an O2 sensor code, and a thermostat code.

4: Would the VVT thing screw me up any because I didn't set the cam timing before I pulled the belt off?


I'm going to toss some plugs in it tomorrow when the parts stores open. But aside from a weird coincidence, I don't see what else the problem can be. I've done more timing belts than I can think of in my job at an independent auto repair shop, never running into anything as weird as this.

Thanks in advance.

Pete

Pics of timing marks:

 

pardon the cell phone pics. The last picture is tough to tell but the nub on the crank sprocket is lined up with the mark on the block, if you can tell.

 

You might be out on the exhaust cam. The cam might have moved but the mark can still look like it is on.

The only real way to know is to pull the back of the motor apart and check the alignment of the cam by putting the cam lock tool on.

 

I don't have that special tool. I'll have to see what I can do.

 

Here is a link to a good thread about the VVT hub. Maybe some of the information in there would be helpful to you.http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/index...&#entry1580197</p>

 

hey good to know does things, last week i went to the volvo they told me to change the time belt and at the same time another dude just recently got his car to the shop complaining about some engine overheating because he went to a particular mechanic for the installation, but the thing is tht i heard the volvo guys telling him hes gotta pay for a full reinstallation of the time belt, i think, probably the waterpump had been misplaced or they didnt refill the radiator with coolant, oh well...but anyways good reading lessons tech