Timing belt, am i being mislead?!

[YoungGunSupra]

Hey guys, ive posted on here earlier about having some troubles passing smog. i took my supra down to my grandmas mechanic of 20 years..he has a 85 supra of his own and i just asked him if he could look at the car and check the EGR and what not to see if everythings working properly. i get a call 2 hours later telling me the timing belt is COMPLETELY off, he says its off 30degrees and he cant even see the marks, and that the belt probably jumped..blah blah blah..i go down to look at it myself, and hes like yea your supras really underpowers...my older NA supra is alot faster than it! and he goes on on and about how fast mines should be especially with the turbo. he says he did what he could to adjust the timing belt by ear because he "could hear something wrong with it" and he feels that after he did that it ran much stronger....now after hearing this i get kinda nervous because i just had about 3000 dollars worth of maintenance work done by a reputable shop here on the forums and the timing belt was done as well! i trust the shop so im fairly confident the timing belt was done properly.. but im gonna have it checked out again.

**BTW the guy that checked it out and said it was the timing belt said that before i can even go get it smogged i need to fix the timing belt or it wont pass smog. so he said i cant guarantee it will pass smog after the timing belt, but its the 1st step we gotta take cuz it is "definitely out" does this sound like complete bullshit to you guys? i will hopefully have this all taken care of by this tuesday, just wanted to get some opinions.

 

[mkiiichip]

Remove the upper cover, and check it yourself. All you gotta do is make sure three marks line up. Then if they dont line up, take it back to the shop that did the work, and they should handle it.

Step 8 shows how everything should look.
http://www.cygnusx1.net/Supra/Library/TSRM/MK3/manual.aspx?S=EM&P=23

It sounds to me, like someone is confusing cam timing and ignition timing. It also sounds like the ignition timing, just needs to be adjusted.

 

[SideWinderGX]

Sounds like bullshit. You better spend the next few days researching EVERYTHING about ignition/cam timing so you can check yourself and know FOR SURE.

Don't take your car to any mom and pop shops that your friends/family recommend.

edit: by ear is not to way to do it, ever, unless you are in the middle of the Sahara and are going to die. Also, 30 degrees out the car would barely run...installing my CPS after my HG job I had it a tooth out (pegged to one side though) and it barely started up.

 

[shaeff]

http://www.supramania.com/forums/content.php?181-How-To-basic-timing-instructions-CPS-alignment

 

[Poodles]

If any of the parts was just a single tooth off it would run like absolute shit...

 

[ifyouaint1sturlast]

The fact that he said he did it by ear should indicate that he was adjusting ignition timing and not valve timing. When he said he couldn't see the marks perhaps he meant using a timing light he couldn't see the TDC indicator on the balancer?

Now, if the mechanic is the one who said your [ignition] timing is off because your timing belt jumped a tooth, and that he adjusted it all by ear. Go to a different shop.

 

[kneedragger85]

i get a call 2 hours later telling me the timing belt is COMPLETELY off, he says its off 30degrees and he cant even see the marks, and that the belt probably jumped

Soooo....it's off by 30 degrees yet he can't see the marks...and mentioned the belt "probably" jumped? Read what everyone here gave you and spend the 30 minutes setting it correct yourself.

 

[Poodles]

If he actually screwed with the belt, he probably tighten the tensioner bolt "good 'n tight" as well...

 

[GrimJack]

Check that the TDC mark on the front main pulley is still aligned with actual TDC... pull the #1 spark plug, insert chop stick into hole, rotate engine by hand until chop stick is at the top of the stroke, check mark on front main pulley is lined up with zero degrees on the timing belt cover.

 

[suprahooked]

^ a straw works too!

 

[T701jz]

Check that the TDC mark on the front main pulley is still aligned with actual TDC... pull the #1 spark plug, insert chop stick into hole, rotate engine by hand until chop stick is at the top of the stroke, check mark on front main pulley is lined up with zero degrees on the timing belt cover.

+1
All the jz engines I've done all three key-way were facing up indicated timing was correct.

 

[YoungGunSupra]

thanks for the response guys, i took it to driftmotion, carlos personally showed me all the ticks were lined up. looks like another bullshittin mechanic tryin to rip someone off

 

[SideWinderGX]

I almost want to suggest taking it back to the guy and telling him off...but don't do that.

 

[ehall8017]

or atleast getting your money back for not doing anything at all

 

[destrux]

Guys like that make it hard for honest small garages to do business. Then again, it's hard to say if he was purposefully doing it or if he's just one of those guys that doesn't really know what he's doing, but "fixes" cars anyway.