First off, Hi to all, i'm brand new to the forum.

I bought a 1998 V70 recently from the original owner who had all maintainence done religiously at the dealership. New timing belt at 75k. I got the car at 114k and have been driving it for the last few weeks with nothing but good news. Started right away even during some extreme cold (-6 degrees!) in northern wisconsin. so i park it for abouta week and just tried to move it (warm out today, 50 degrees or so!!) and crankcrankcrank, no start. wierd. crank some more, almost sounded like it wanted to start a few times. pop the cover off of distributor thinking with the massive temp change i may have gathered some condensation. nope. crank a little more. nothing. pull oil cap, note position of intake cam lobes. crank a little, no movement. uh-oh. pull timing belt cover- belt still there, looks fine. huh? crank again, intake/exhaust cams have not moved. whats goin on. i'm suspecting the teeth stripped off the belt at the crank pulley?? did i for sure bend a valve? and how does one tell??

thanks in advance. i'm stressing over here!

kyle

 

If the teeth were stripped off the belt at the crankshaft it wouldn't feel like it was going to start at all since the valves are not moving. Have you had a second person watch for them to turn while you try and crank it over? If you can get the top timing cover off check the belt for tension first before you crank it over again. It's more likely the belt broke (if anything) versus stripping the teeth.

 

took the upper cover off and i can see the belt all the way down to the crank. tension feels ok to me, belt appears to be in one place. i should add that when this happened, i was trying to get the car moving in a hurry and accidentally didn't engage the starter as long as i should have. more or less just bumped the starter, and the engine kind of just stumbled for a few seconds then died. has not started since then. didn't have a second person to crank while i watched the sprockets, will have a helper tomorrow. is this wise to do? since the engine has not run is there a chance i didn't bend anything??

 

Cranking the engine will have the same possibility of doing damage as idling it. You should check everything else before you assume it is the timing belt. Does everything sound normal when you crank it over? Does it give any indication of wanting to start? One thing you might want to just check is that you have fuel pressure. Turn the key to on but do not start it, then off. On the end of the fuel rail there is a black cap, maybe it's blue I don't remember but it's on the right side when looking at the engine. Take off and cap, and with a rag covering and to absorb any fuel, push in the center of the fitting and fuel should come out. Just a little will come out, don't worry. Just watch so you don't get it in your eyes in case it sprays. If you have fuel here, you know you're getting fuel to the rails and the system pressurizes at least and you can dismiss a bad fuel pump. Just a thought, here in MN, like WI we get some pretty cold ones and can freeze up fuel lines.

 

The lifters might have bled down over time while it was setting. If the belt is all good then hold the gas pedal to the floor before cranking the motor over and keep it held to the floor and crank it over for a while till it starts.

 

i will check fuel rail for pressure. i hear the f.p. coming on though. since i didn't have any help- i took the timing belt cover off and marked the pullys (scratched them) unless the cams ended up in the exact same place, they didn't move. will get a helper today and have him crank while i watch. would the lifters bleed down so quickly? it's only been sitting maybe 6 days. i tried foot to the floor right after the first time i bumped the starter and it kind of stumbled then died. got it to almost fire a few times (this is before i thought the timing belt was a possibility) sounds normal when cranking. if the belt is indeed slipping, should i put the belt back on (correctly timed) and do a compression test to see if valves were bent? with no garage, i'm a little limited right now. i'll have it towed tomorrow, but want a clear idea of what is going on. thanks for the help.
kyle-

 

Yes the lifters can bleed down that fast at times.

You have to have the gas pedal all the way down before turning the key on it cuts the fuel off.

If the belt is fine try that again with starting it.

 

i take it that it is somewhat uncommon to see a belt slip and not break? i'm gonna go out and see whats going on right now.

 

Usually they will not slip.

 

well don't i feel like an idiot... got the neighbor to come out and crank it over for me while i watched the cams... started right up

i guess my paranoia was causedby the intake cam landing in the same friggin spot when i checked it. TWO TIMES!! i was under the impression it wasn'tturning.

so, do you think the lifers just bled down and made it hard to start? i'm pretty happy now, it makes the ball joints and tie rod ends i have to put in seem like small potatoes!!

thanks for the help!

bye for now,
kyle-

 

Yes I feel thats what it was.

 

What does it mean when you guys say "Lifters bled down"?

 

After the car sits for like a week or so the oil will bleed back out of them and they will collapse. It takes a little bit if cranking to get them pumped back up. Not all cars will do it.

 

Ah OK. Thanks!