Timing Belt

[Vegan]

Ended up driving a rental for two months while a shop did the timing belt and changed the starter for $2400. It still has some issues: CEL with a code 13, and the first time you start it on a given day, it takes much longer to start than normal and runs rough for about ten seconds. After that it drives fine, and when started later, will start normally. Shop said it was the MAF sensor, and I think that is a mistake. Slightly annoyed I paid so much and it still has a CEL and doesn't start right. Any ideas?

[VBdenny]

Slightly annoyed?

Wish I could help but the only piece of an idea I have is the fuel pump. Many times when fuel pumps are going, they are very slow to deliver fuel and it takes a lot of cranking. My Silverado got to the point where I thought it would ruin the starter. Not saying this is your issue just an experience I had.

[LSPaul]

I've had to deal with this recently on my '94. I have been getting Code 13 intermittently pretty much from the moment I got the car back on the road a couple months ago. It was a bear to start cold (chugged pretty badly), but eventually got better as the car warmed up... mostly.

That got really old over the last couple months/7k miles (!), so I dug into it again a couple nights ago... Both cam sensors were in spec--resistance was in-range both warm and cold, and the CPS was just fine. So, I dug into it further, pulling more plastic bits off. With the crank at TDC/0 degrees, the LH cam (driver's side) was fine, but the RH side (passenger side of the car) was off one tooth to the left. Today's project? Correct this problem.

What happens when one removes the TB tensioner is that there's slack on the right hand side of the belt, and when one deploys the tensioner, it pushes up on the timing belt tensioner, removing the slack and thus, it rotates the RH cam to the left... If you set the right hand cam on the timing mark before putting the tensioner back in, you'll end up one tooth off to the left.

I did on mine was this: Once I got the tensioner out (and re-armed), and the rest of it disassembled, I rotated the RH cam one tooth to the *right*, put the belt back on, keeping the side of the belt on the LH side of the engine (to my right, going toward the water pump) snug. I re-installed the cam sensor bracket and distributor rotor, then installed and deployed the TB tensioner, which took the slack out of the timing belt and... rotated that right hand/passenger side cam exactly one tooth to the left... meaning I was dead on. As a bonus, with that bank on the mark, the center line of the distributor rotor lined up perfectly with the notch on the left hand side of the cam sensor bracket. I cranked the engine by hand a couple rotations, and all was on the marks.

I put the rest of the car back together and started it up--no CELs, nice and easy cold start, smooth idle, etc.

Hope this helps.

Paul

'93 LS, '94 LS 5th Anniversary