No Power At Low Revs - Timing Out, Misfire At High Revs, Timing Pins

[DNCustomGti 0]

Hi chaps!

Well after spending a lot of time and money on fitting new bits for my 205 i'm getting pretty annoyed with the performance!

 

Its a 1600 Gti H reg, the parts that its had to improve the state it was in 6 months ago are:

rebuilt Air flow meter (£150 from fuel parts uk),

new plugs, dizzy, rotor arm,

ignition module,

cambelt kit,

alternator,

new standard cam, etc........

 

The cam has been done by my local specialist (and good friend) who shimmed up the cam clearances with all new peugeot shims.

 

Now this is a bit of a grey area for me because i'm still learning the whole cam timing/cambelt settings...

The cam belt was a total nightmare because the mechanic reckoned it had the wrong pulley(!) because the cam pulley and crank pulleys didnt line up when coming to putting the locking pins into place.

This was the original reason for having a new cambelt kit fitted because the pin holes didnt line up - which then turned into having a new cam because one lobe was more of a circle due to the 1.6 cams being crap compared to the 1.9 cams, and perhaps a leaking o ring/ blocked oil feed on the oil feed rail to the camshaft!! who knows...

 

At this point I thought everything could go pop! But he assured me it cant go pop with the cam lobes set as they should be "like a set of rabbits ears" (\./) and the igniton timing correct. I just had to take his word for it at this point! He tried the cam belt one tooth advanced from its position and one tooth retarded from its position and chose the best point - i didnt see this bit so cant say what he chose!

 

Upon tuning the car up it seemed everything was running very rich, so he checked the ignition timing, set up the throttle switch, idle air screw, afm etc.. as per the haynes manual.

 

The whole tune up reached the point where it was quite good once you got it 'on the cam' around 3500 revs and again about 5000 revs but we couldnt seem to go any further.

 

The car was and is quite flat from low revs and has a weird misfire just before/or just on the red line. The guy also says it seems very flat compared to his 1.6 gti.

 

Now ive come to the point where ive got some time to have a look into it again, i wouldnt mind getting it sorted.

 

The car is not excessive on fuel and i can often get 33mpg on a steady 35 mile run to and from uni, or about 25mpg thrashin around a bit. The engine runs cooler than it used too before - maybe to do with it running too rich??

 

I just want to know what the misfire could be caused by because its eatin up ma engine mounts, and why the timing pins dont line up on the cam and crank pulleys.

 

Sorry for the story chaps, jus thort its best to give all the info!

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

Get your mate to slacken the cambelt off & get the two timing pins in, then refit & tension the belt up, adjust the timing to suit to see if it runs any better.

 

As long as the belt has as little slack as possible along the front of the engine before the belt is retensioned it shouldn't move the cam out of position very much at all.

 

The timing pins will only line up every second turn of the crank as the cam moves at half the speed of the crank.

 

Graham.

[DNCustomGti 0]

Cheers Graham, maybe thats what he was getting wrong with getting the pins in place.

I remember him showing me the pin holes, and when the cam pin was in place the crank pin hole was approx 10-15mm off the hole on the crank pulley (might not have been exactly 10-15mm but enough that you couldnt see any day light through the hole or shine a light through it. i.e. the holes didnt line up at all!!)

 

I'm considering taking it to Shenpar for setup/tune, I explained i'd had problems with the pulleys lining up, they say they'll do it for 50 quid + bits.... is that the best choice?

Could they fit an aftermarket pulley and time it up from that?

[DNCustomGti 0]

Sorry, just a quick addition. Seem to remember him lining the pins up and it didnt run very well. So he just set up the cam pulley from the cam lobe positions, but not sure how he did crank pulley.

Can the cam pulley be loosened and moved on the camshaft, or is it locked in one place with a key and groove on the camshaft?

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

if the cylinder head has been skimmed 'to death' it will mean the timing holes wont line up as they used to . then the high compression from the head skims will lead to pinking , meaning the ignition will have to be retarded for it run properly etc etc .

 

my 1.6 was a bag'o's*ite until the head gasket went the second time, i then took it to someoine who knew what they were doing and they reskimmed , fitted a thicker head gasket to bring it within manafacturers tolerances and timed the ignition up properly etc . i had the limiter removed and it always pulled like a train after that way past 7k.

 

 

not saying its you're problem but its certainly worth checking and would explain a few things.

 

cheers, Al

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

Sorry, just a quick addition. Seem to remember him lining the pins up and it didnt run very well. So he just set up the cam pulley from the cam lobe positions, but not sure how he did crank pulley.

Can the cam pulley be loosened and moved on the camshaft, or is it locked in one place with a key and groove on the camshaft?

 

both crank and cam pulleys are fixed , along with the locating holes on the block . is you're guy using the correct hole on the block for the crank pulley? its very easy to mistake it for another hole , however i dont think it would run at all using the other hole.

[DNCustomGti 0]

hmmm, sounds interesting about the head gasket because ive got no real history as to the engine.

Yeh i would think he was using the correct holes. Perhaps let the chaps at Shenpar take a look.

 

Have fitted full magnex stainless system and manifold tonight, so hopefully claw back some lost power! (claims 10 -12bhp) lol!

Thought it would be best to fit it now that ive got the exhaust ive been after for weeks! Then let it go to Shenpar...