Urgent Timing Help With 16v

[Richie-Van-GTi 71 2 Cars]

I have a bit of an issue.

Timed up the new engine (in sig) but when I test turned by hand the valves hit the piston Ive triple checked everything, all timing holes line up, belt is correct tension etc and the pulleys are in the right places.

Whipped the cam cover off the inlet and sure enough as piston 4 is just approiaching the top the valves are fully open on the inlet side. I had wondered if using an xu10 bottom pulley on an xu9 crank could of thrown it off but I dont see how as with the timing hole lined up all 4 pistons sit level as expected. The only thing I can think of doing is manually timing it without the aid of the holes but Im not sure where to start with a 16v engine, Id also prefer to keep the exhaust cam timed how it is if possible as that seems fine and its an arse to remove stuff on that.

[Richie-Van-GTi 71 2 Cars]

ben scratching my head some more, if the bottom pulley were to be 180 degree out on the timing hole this would mean the pistons are still level but travelling in the opposite direction so would be the cause of the issues I reckon. Anyone any comments on this?

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

The XU10 pulley's all tend to go out of sink due to them slipping so what ever you do never time the engine up with one unless it's brand new, I always use a old XU5/9 one as it's solid and gives a good quick referance point

[Richie-Van-GTi 71 2 Cars]

thanks, I dont think its the pulleys anymore though. Im at a total loss now.

Ive removed both cams and checked all valves are pulling right up in case it were a sticky valve but still no joy.

with cams out and all valves fully closed it still sticks as though 'topping out' against something. Im now thinking possibly the stroke is too long for the block wich I doubt since others have done it, or that the head gasket is overlapping a bore somewhere. the piston did sit approx 0.5 - 1mm proud of the deck at TDC without a head gasket. I had checked with head at stage 2 setting and there was still sufficient clearance, possibly the extra 160 degrees has taken up too much??

Edited July 2, 2007 by Richie-Van-GTi

[B1ack_Mi16 67]

I think it's the diesel cranks that's the problem.

 

I was planning to use standard Mi16 camshaft pulleys on my 2.3 litre engine, with petert offset sprocket keys to alter the camsettings.

 

But when pre-assembling the engine I found that the XU9J4 bottom pulley on the diesel crank would not line up the pistons correct, as when you put the location-pin into the pulley and lock it all pistons should sit flush. In this case the 1 & 4 was sitting different to 2 & 3.

 

So I simply just put the catcams verniers onto it instead and set the piston nr. 1 on true TDC, and dialled in the camshafts from the lift @TDC figures.

 

So I really think it's the diesel cranks that have a different ground crankshaft sprocket way.

[welshpug 1,648]

PSA diesel engines are typically timed up with holes in the flywheel and gearox mounting face on the block, not the crank pulley.

[Sandy 191]

If you're using the standard XU cam pulley holes to locate the cam timing, the crank should be at 90 degrees, not TDC, does this explain the problem?

[B1ack_Mi16 67]

If you're using the standard XU cam pulley holes to locate the cam timing, the crank should be at 90 degrees, not TDC, does this explain the problem?

 

I know the crank should be at 90 degrees and not TDC when aligning using the standard timing marks.

but this wasn't the case when I used a Mi16 bottom pulley on the 2.1 TD crankshaft. So the diesel cranks must have the key-slot ground in a little different angle than the petrol ones. At least this was the case on my specific crank and engine.