[smiffy26]

hi i had my cambelt changed last week by a mechanic, i drove the car the next day and engine warning light came on, i went to a garage and had it plugged in and came back that timing was out, ive spoken to the mechanic and he has been round all day today checking timing, i noticed when he was trying to start it with his foot on the throttle it was popping back through the air filter housing, has anyone got any pictures of how the camshafts should be sat when at tdc as im going to try and fix it myself now. many thanks

 

[amc49]

Better hope he has not bent valves from timing going off. The popping back thing is evidence of it possibly.

 

[smiffy26]

im hoping its just the timing is out 180 degrees but need to know how the camshaft lobes sit when set correctly, he says you cant get the crankshaft timing out but im sure its two revolutions of the crankshaft to one of the camshafts

 

[amc49]

He's essentially correct, the cams have no way of knowing which of the two crank revolutions the cams get tied to. Neither does the engine, meaning either one will work as long as crank is in the correct place in the one revolution picked. TDC at crank is TDC regardless of what revolution you're on.

 

[smiffy26]

thanks for the reply, do you have any suggestions as to how crankshaft i would know if its in the right place as im not certain he put the crank tool in correctly in the first place as i had an engine warning light on as soon as i drove off and came up with camshaft sensor out of range which he said could be timing,

 

[sailor]

Long rod/screwdriver down the spark plug hole will show when #1 or 4 comes to top dead center (they move together). It's a good way to get close when turning to find TDC.

 

[amc49]

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=450217

Look at the link on post #3, it shows how to time using that tool but you'll see timing marks used.

May help..................

 

[smiffy26]

thanks for the link, he was using a different timing pin set for the older zetec engine, which had 2 different size crankshaft pins, he was using the smaller one which he put into the the crank