Need Expert Opinion, Will fuel cut cause timing to jump.

[laserspeeddemon]

OK here's the deal.

(The Background, you can skip this part)
I have been piecing together someone's car (1995 Eagle Talon TSi AWD) for the last month and a half on my free time (I don't have much free time). He had the head rebuilt and was deployed, leaving the rest of the repairs to a mechanic at the Fort Belvoir Auto Craft Shop, the mechanic there let me take over the job as I have previously rolled in there with 3 turbo DSMs. When I got it, the head was on and the timing belt was on along with the timing cover, and that's about it. After much work, piecing together vacuum lines, trying to figure out what connector goes where, replacing just about everything else to do a head install, I finally get it running, did I mention that I worked on this for a month and a half. I got in running in pretty good condition, I drove it around the parking lot of the shop and I took it easy on the car as it had sat for a YEAR, I gave it full throttle one time and it boosted to 20 psi (as I watched the boost gauge very carefully), I didn't boost the car after that. The final problem was a fuel injector that didn't seat properly. After seating it the car ran like it should, that day a man was supposed to meet us to look at the car and possibly buy it. (The deal was I get $500 of the sale for fixing it/selling it). That man never showed. Another guy (Matt) at the shop said he knew someone that might want to buy it. Matt thinks he is a mechanic but he is not. He has done timing on a VW with a custom head and timed it wrong bending all intake valves on a head that had to be imported from Germany, if fact he messed it up 3 times. He also sold a SUV that needed the timing done, part of the deal was that he would do the timing, that was back in March. He has been kicked out of the Fort Myer (another army post about 20 miles away) Shop for crap like this. The owner of the car gave the keys to Matt, since his friend Frank was going to buy it. The owner told Matt that he could drive the car into the shop and take a look at it. After the owner left, Matt took the car (unregistered and uninsured I might add) on the streets for a joy ride. This is the problem

(The problem)
Another Mechanic described the event. Matt drove the car down the street at full throttle. The car bucked not once, not twice, but 5 times consecutively in one 1-2 gear pull. The way the mechanic described it, it definitely sounded like fuel cut and the fact I hit 20 psi on the car myself (and I let off as soon as it spiked so it could have been 20+ psi) is another big indicator. After that Matt drove the car back, it could barely run. Now the only way to keep it running is to keep the car at 1/2 throttle, if you put it at 1/4 throttle it dies, if it goes to full throttle is stalls. Matt says that the timing is off by 2 teeth. I checked the timing before he got his hands on it, it was fine. I checked the tension too (between the cams). Nothing was wrong that I could tell. I have done timing on both my DSMs and they never had a problem. I have yet to look at this car since then, I might get a chance at this weekend. The owner is already talking to a lawyer to sue him. That is why I am asking this, I would like it if The Speed Factor, PT Tuning, or Mach V would comment, since they are local.

Here is my question; given that the timing was correct and the tension was correct, could the 5 consecutive fuel cuts caused the timing to jump?

 

[BrokenTsi]

Check the timing.. Only way your gonna know if the belt jumped. Fuel cut can be pretty rough, timing belt can just jump without the constant bucking of fuel cut so who knows, coulda done it. Coulda blown off an intercooler pipe or something else as well making it run like crap. First thing first.. check the timing.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

I will get to that later, I just need a credible witness; a certified mechanic, Shop owner, DSM shop employee that is local to say that fuel cut could cause the timing to jump for the court case.

 

[gsxtacy]

Hey Sean-

You know I have been into DSM's for quite a while.

I have never seen a "multiple" fuel cut in just one gear.

The few times I have actually hit FUEL CUT, it actually scares the s*&^ out you, and you let off.

It sounds more like bouncing off the Rev Limiter, or a boost leak studder.

Can the timing jump from hitting the rev limiter or a Boost Leak?

Yes, timing will jump whenever the 4g63 god wants it to.

There are too many factors.

Check the marks, if their good, I am betting on a blown off IC pipe or a HUGE leak elesewhere.

gsxtacy

 

[laserspeeddemon]

You don't understand Matt, he doesn't care about other peoples things. He will destory it and walk away, then justify it by saying it was someone elses fault. Matt is indeed pretty stupid but hitting the rev-limiter in 5 different gears and 5 different times is not, only, something he wouldn't do, but I don't beleive he had gone the distance to reach any where near that speed. Lets not forget that I have reached those speeds before.

Fuel Cut and Boost studder are the same thing, though I never heard it called that. If you have a boost leak, then the turbo has to work alot harder to produce the same psi, by it working harder it has to pull more air past the MAS, there by hitting fuel cut ALOT earlier.

It is very possible to hit fuel cut more then once in the same gear. I have done it in Germany lots of times before I relized what it was and the potential of damage that it could have caused. Luckily, all that happened was I over worked the 14b and it took a crap on me.