Dropped Cylinder...

[lsgheero]

K as for valve clearance YES you will need a feeler gauge, Autozone or any parts store should carry the part Also if you don't have one get a torque wrench and make sure you torque all the required bolts to their specs last thing you want is something coming loose or snapping inside the engine.

Also when you reinstall the cams after checking the valves...make sure you check the clearance on the cams as well.

[ac604605]

Thanks ISG, its always good to know the tools I will before hand. After finally understanding how the cam gears line up, thanks to mr2tim's helpful explanation, I realized things look a bit off. There are three marks on the crank pulley, and according to the BGB the one farthest left should line up with the tension bolt. When the cam gears are at TDC, it lines up with the one on the far right. So I'm going to try and pry off the crank pulley to see what lies beneath. Wish me luck; or if there is an easier way stop me before I get in too deep.

[ac604605]

I would like to take a moment and pat myself on the back... Instead of taking off the crank pulley, I simply stuck my digital camera down between the timing belt and snapped a couple of pictures. Using a large straw stuck down the spark plug whole of cylinder one, I turned the engine until I found TDC and snapped another couple of pictures. In the pictures, I could see perfectly where the notch on the crankshaft timing pulley and mark on the oil pump body lined up. After comparison I found that the cam gears are one tooth too far.

[F_R_O_G]

the engine was rebuilt such a short time ago I really don't think something would have gone wrong with them. This may sound stupid, but I don't know where the engine was rebuilt or by whom

i'd bet my MR2 that this is your problem. it was a bad rebuild.

don't pat yourself on the back just yet. it's virtually impossible to tell exactly where TDC is that way. use the "positive stop" method.

[ac604605]

What is the positive stop method?

[F_R_O_G]

i would have explained it yesterday but i had to go to bed. so here it goes.

this is the back yard mechanic version of finding TDC with positive stop.

put a mark where you think TDC is on the crank pulley. (doesn't really matter where you put the mark but it might make it easier this way) turn the crank so the piston is out of the way. screw in a bold or something like that into the sparkplug hole so that it will hit the piston before the piston is at TDC. rotate the crank slowly untill the piston hits the bolt. mark where the line on the crank pulley is on the block. turn the crank the other way slowly until it hits the bolt again on the other side. again make a mark on the block where the mark on the pulley is. the point between those two points is TDC.

you can make a bolt for the sparkplug hole by taking an old sparkplug and pulling the porcelain out and sticking a bolt in there. also to get the best reading, you could tie a coat hanger to the crank and use the end of the hanger as a pointer

[ac604605]

Thanks for the explanation. I'm on summer break right now so I don't have the car with me, but I'll try it when I get back home. There are three notches on the crank pulley, when I found TDC the way I described, it ended up on the far right hand notch instead of the far left, where it was supposed to be. I believe there is only one way to stick the crank pulley on the crank timing gear; so either way something is off. However after looking more closely at the crank gear, part of the gear is chipped off. It was impossible to tell from the pictures, but it may not even have the notch on it anymore. What I thought was the notch turned out to be a break in the metal.

My father suggested that I check the valve clearance, and that maybe one of the valves was installed wrong and swelled just enough to break the seal under pressure. Valve clearance was spot on. I took the opportunity to place the crankshafts between TDC, and TDC where is was marked on the crank pulley. The valves still fell between min and max clearance standards. So... I still think it may be timing, but no way to check for several weeks. I'll update then, if any one has any ideas I'm always open to suggestion.

[F_R_O_G]

to be honest you should be ok, it's just a more accurate way of adjusting the timing that they use in race engines. theres offset keys that you can use to get your timing within 1/4 of a degree.