Eagle Talon Tsi Runs bad, Wont Idle, Knocks

[Eberg1964]

I have had this 1996 Eagle Talon Tsi A/T for a while and I just had a shop replace the head, timing belt, etc. The car was running great for 1500 miles or so. I came home one night with the car running perfect then the next morning i go to start it and the battery is dead, so I jumped it, got it started but it will not idle, knocks, and appears to misfire. Also for a few weeks or so before when the car is first started it would run great but when you would put it into drive it would stall one or twice then be fine. I am at a complete loss as to what it could be, the timing belt is tight and didn't skip time, it doesn't overheat, no battery drain with key off. The car is completely stock. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[camas90gsx]

Take this fwiw because im not an auto guy,but could it be the TCU or maybe limp mode?? Idk

 

[dsmdoll]

Hey there! I also have a 96 talon and got it pretty much stock, I bought it from a guy who drove it for 10K, and then parked it because it started to sputter. Turned out I had a stuck open injector, have you checked those?

 

[Dsmkauai]

When they did the head and timing job, did they replace the tensioner pulley and hydro tenstioner? Sound like the hydro tensioner failed and you jumped timing the last time the car shut off. Can you check timing and let us know If the marks line up?

 

[Eberg1964]

The timing marks on the cam gears are where they are supposed to be, and yes I had the shop replace everything because the tensioner is what failed in the first place, causing all sorts of bad stuff to happen. Now could it possibly be the fuel injector resistor? How would I go about testing it? I looked around through some of the older forums and couldn't really find anything.

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

When you checked the timing did you -just- look at the timing marks on the cam gears? It's perfectly possible that the cams line up correctly but your crank could be off a tooth or more causing said symptoms. A lot of people never go through the trouble to check the timing mark between the crank sprocket and the block due to having to remove the timing cover to do so and end up going by the cam gears which -can- be misleading.

 

[Eberg1964]

I just took off the bolts to the fuel rail and took it out leaving the injectors connected and had a buddy turn the key and they all sprayed evenly so thats not it. I guess I will have to pop a wheel off and check the harmonic balancer. What would cause the belt to slip a tooth? The tensioner and everything are brand new.