90' Festy has NO power when driving..

[Levitan]

Is the bang bang coming from the intake or the exhaust? General rule of thumb is backfiring thru intake is electrical\timing, while thru the exhaust is fuel.

[TominMO]

Also possible is that the timing belt has slipped a tooth or two. Maybe the PO was trying to compensate for that, not realizing it was a valve timing issue, not an ignition timing issue.

[festiva208]

It will backfire through exhaust every now and then while im driving it, but i can't tell were the exactly the banging sound is coming from while trying to turn over. I'll probably just have to take it to the shop because i don't know anything about timing.

thanks for all the input!

[FestYboy]

here's a Q: is the engine rev limited? how bad were the plugs when you pulled them? there's a potentially bad/clogged cat in your future. unlikely that it skipped a tooth on the timing belt, as if it had, you would find power high up in the RPMs and the idle would be lumpy(ish).

[festiva208]

Just did a compression test. all clyinders within 5 psi of 175. I did it with a cold engine, because i don't want to run the motor more than i should. So i figure it would be a little more when warmed up. So does that rule out headgasket??

The car doest have a cat, so a clogged one is out of the picture. The plugs were REALLY nasty when i pulled them out. I had to spray wd40 to try to penatrate down in there, and use a breaker bar to get them out! im lucky they didnt break off in head.

[doylerl]

Would a bad TPS cause this?

[festiva208]

Also, could someone maybe show a picture of were the timing marks are..i looked all over that timing belt cover and could not see them

[wybnrml]

Also, could someone maybe show a picture of were the timing marks are..i looked all over that timing belt cover and could not see them

It is a little plate that should have a "T" on it with little lines like a ruler. It is in front of the crank pulley towards the front of the car, you might need a flash light ot see it. Its inbetween the water pump pulley and the crank pulley, if you remove the MAF and airbox you can see it better.

[festiva208]

thanks wybnrml i'll check it out

[FestYboy]

yeah... good head gasket, no clogged cat, bad coil..... replace coil.

[CharlieZ]

Timing marks on lower cam belt cover and crank pulley marking. Upper belt cover removed.

[m715]

Don't forget that fuel injected cars use the mark on the BACK of the timing cover. It is a single slash, not the guage on the front of the cover. This is a common mistake which results in a non running car! The front timing guage is only used on carburated cars.

[Bathtub Tom]

I had a blocked silencer that wouldn't let me rev above 4K.

[festiva208]

blocked intake silencer? Never heard of that happening but i'll pull off air intake and check it out.

[festiva208]

changed fuel filter today, it was clogged up and a buch of nasty old gas came out of it. Still has no power and is hesitant. Will play around with turning distributer tomorrow, don't have the money to have someone with a timing light mess with it, so by the way i described it running, should i gradually turn it clockwise (advance?) or counterclockwise (retard?) and see how it runs then...I know it's a halfassed way, but im not putting any more money into the car. If that does't fix it then its going up for sale or scrapyard...