420A timing is way out

[krackit]

hey guys. so i'll start off by introducing myself. i'm a canadian member. have had my 98 talon ESi for just over 2 years now. i've been a member on here for about a year and have spent most my nights reading this site learning new things. So far my far has been reliable to me and I do all my own maintainance and stay on top of general work. well was tinkering around under the hood getting ready to put new headers and cat in when i figured i'd check the timing. took the small cover off and when the belt got put to TDC, my exhaust gear was close to being right, but my intake is almost 90* behind the exhaust. This is my first time checking the timing since ive owned the car and have no idea how long it has been like this. What sort of damage am i looking at for the timing being out this far? i haven't noticed anything in how it runs wich is why i never questioned it. it starts fine and idles fine.

ive attached a pic of TDC. u can faintly see the white mark on the exhaust side

 

[southrneclipser]

If the engine was out of timing that much it wouldn't run. For your engine the timing marks on the gears have to be pointing to each other. The intake gear has to be at 3 oclock and the exhaust gear has to be at 9 oclock. If you've been driving it for 2 years then yours is probably fine, unless its been running like crap for 2 years.

 

[krackit]

well that's what i figured. if you look closely at the pic, you see the white mark on the exhaust side just before the 9 o'clock, but you cant see the white mark yet on the intake side because it's still behind the shroud...but if i continue cranking the engine the white mark on the intake gear eventually comes over to the 3 o'clock mark, and puts the exhaust at about the 6....so they are almost 90* out of sync so i dont know what the hell is goin on with this....

 

[southrneclipser]

I just noticed you referred to your timing marks as the white marks. The timing marks that you should be looking for are little notches taken out of the gear. They are pretty little so you have to be looking for them when your turning the engine.

 

[krackit]

oh. haha. i'll do that then. thanks.

 

[southrneclipser]

not a problem. Just remember that if you change your timing belt, the crankshaft has the be in time with the camshafts as well. There are timing marks when you remove your crank pulley to do this.