Went in for timing belt change now worse then ever

[eclgst95]

Ok ill try and described exactly what happened acurately.
I have a 1995 Eclipse GST with 97,000 miles
I drive my car every single day, which had no problems at all, ran perfectly smooth no sounds comming from the engine, not even lifter tap.
One night i get home from work, just like every night. cars running perfect no problems so i go inside my house, goto sleep wake up for work the next morning.
Crank her up and i immediatly knew something was wrong i hear a slapping sound comming from engine...
mmmk so turn car off, pop hood. turn car back on, ok that slap seems like its comming from under the timing belt cover. next step turn off car, take timing belt cover off.
Start car again and i can visually see that the timing belt is very loose but still completly on, just making a horrible sound.
Ok so i figure its time for a timing belt change.
Run up to the store in another car to get a timing belt. i was just going to do this bymyself ive done plenty of timing belt changes before...
get back home, look up the howto, read over decide that i cant do this one. so next step is i call PEP BOYS they say bring it on in they can do it blah blah.
so i TOW my car up there, no way im driving it, risking worse damage.
get it up there explain that we towed it, because it shouldnt be drove.
Then i go home..
get a call, from the manager saying that the car is running real rough timing belt isnt going to fix it...
But my car was running completly perfect before this... ok that just doesnt sound right.
So i go back up there and the mechanic says he didnt want to touch it for insurance reasons. i cranked it and saw it was running abit rough.
Oh DING lightbulb came on in my head. i forgot to plug in one of the plugs right next to the timing belt cover, oh that fixes it except for the slapping timing belt of course.
so after a couple days of trying to get the parts up there they say its done and i go up and get it..


The car barely cranks, almost doesnt crank at all. but it does.
putputputputputputput wtf is that?
the motor is wobbling slightly and i notice that my vacum readings on my guage are at 12 instead of 22 where it normally sits at idle.
also i notice that oil is leaking from the bottom of the car, near the powersteering belt and alt belt. so they said that they will fix it and make it right.
a day later.
oil leak is fixed but my car still isnt the same.
ofcourse they say that they double checked the timing and its all good.
SO WHY DOES MY CAR RUN LIKE CRAP.
It definatly didnt run this bad before i took it in. it was suppose to be just a damn timing belt change wtf is going on.


so heres a recap.

Car is puttering, putputputputput but its quietly putting.
if i rev the engine, the rpms fall back down and seems like the car wants to die out.
but usually regains itself.
you can hear some kind of electrical spark near the plugs, touched them all not getting shocked though.
any ideas? im tapped out for money... paid 780$ for this to happen.
gonna try to look at it myself need some places to start. any ideas? :\

 

[femmeDSM]

I will have to go back and re-read all the info in your post, but what it seems like to me, on a first-read basis, is that PepBoys didn't line up the exhaust cam properly on the timing belt install. I've seen this happen plenty of times (even experienced people who know DSMs have made this mistake). This will cause the "put put" noise you're hearing (almost like an exhaust leak, perhaps? ) as well as the low vac readings.

You need to align the teeth with a straight-edge. They have to be dead-on. PepBoys just messed up. Usually, when the exhaust cam is off one tooth, this will allow the car to run, but poorly. I've seen an exhaust cam off by 2 teeth ONCE, and the car barely ran; it was a sad sight.

I would say try and fix it yourself, but I'm not sure what sort of "warranty" PepBoys is prepared to offer you on their workmanship. Someone will need to fix this car, though, before the problem is made worse (timing could jump, you would be screwed, and that would be sad).
Good luck

Edit: Are you saying that after you had your car towed to PepBoys and explained that the timing belt was loose, they actually started/ran your car, knowing this was the problem? Shame on them. Next time, if you don't feel comfortable taking a task like this on yourself, either find a local reputable DSMer to help you, or take it to the dealership. PepBoys may be able to change a tire, but I wouldn't trust them with my engine


Recap:
Your exhaust cam is off one (possibly two) teeth. Gotta fix it

 

[laserspeeddemon]

In addition to above:

Boost leak check, make sure no vacuum lines are broken or diconnected.

Check compression, and bring back numbers.

Also make sure your ignition pack is still good. Test the spark by taking the plugs out (might want to disconnect the fuel pump before doing this) and plugging the spark plugs into the ignition wires. Touch the plug to a good grounding point. Have someone crank the engine. Watch for a spark, it should be a nice and bright.

Test those first then come back.

 

[FORMONTOYA]

Correct....I too have seen this mistake made more than once, especially from an "advanced shade tree" shop such as Pep Boys.

Print this and take it up to them and have them fix it correctly:

http://dsmtuners.com/forums/showpost.php?p=151035008&postcount=5

 

[eclgst95]

Ok one more thing to add.
I just took it for a test drive and noticed this..

I was in 5th gear crusing at about 45mph, push the gas down to accelerate, and it started to go, evenetually it seemed like it got to one point while accelerating where it seems like the car stayed at 4500rpm for about 1/2sec long... then the rpms rose again, all while my foot was on the gas. That sounds like a clutch problem, but it wasnt doing this at all before, think this is still exhaust cam being off? im about to go run back up to pep boys.

 

[femmeDSM]

Try not to do much driving until you get that exhaust cam alignment fixed. It may be safe to drive it back to the shop, but I wouldn't chance it with much more than that (just to be on the safe side).

Still sounds like that's the problem, though.

 

[eclgst95]

Sounds good, i appreciate the help.
Im going to print this whole page up with the diagram and hopefully they can get this fixed.
Im just abit concerned that they are just going to tell me that they did the timing job correctly. is there anything i can show them on the car to further explain that they didnt do the job correct, regardless of the car running like crap.

 

[femmeDSM]

They did not do it correctly. It's that simple, and don't let them tell you otherwise. It's a black and white issue

If they give you crap, I'm sure they have a "corporate office" you could call and yell at for a while....or just send them the bill from your friendly local Mitsubishi dealership after you have them fix it for you.