did i just blow my festiva please help.

[dwellfrosis]

1993 festiva L 5 spd. recently changed timing belt and ever since i have been hearing a very slight noise up front that seemed to go away at higher rpms.
i was driving and the car just died. when i turn it over it turns over very fast but it doesnt catch. once in a while it will catch but then imediatly die. did i blow the motor? break the timing belt possibly? the oil has no water in it and the plugs are all intact. no oil on ground and when it died it acted like it ran out of gas just died no clunks or bangs or anything. any help would be nice.

[htchbck]

Sounds like maybe the timing belt tensioner wasn't adjusted properly after replacement. That can cause a noise that doesn't so much go away at higher RPMs but you won't hear it much over the louder noises coming from the engine. If thats the case, the belt may have jumped time or shredded itself. A quick check if the belt broke is take off the oil cap and have someone crank the engine. Is the cam turning? If no, then belt probably broke. If yes, then may have jumped time. The good news is that if either of these two things are the problem, the engine should be good to go once the timing is reset correctly. Post back with your findings please

[Pu241]

I'd check the timing belt, because you say it cranks over very fast, indicating no load/compression being put on starter, ie broken timing belt.
Besides it free to check and if I'm wrong, one less thing to worry about.

[Pu241]

OK, htchbck, now were even you got me by one minute on this one!

[dwellfrosis]

i will check the belt in a few hours and let you know. thanx for all the help. could a blown head gasket also make a pressure drop so that it would make the motor turn over fast?

[htchbck]

I suppose but it would have to be a catastrophic failure to do that, and probably would include water in oil or vise versa. Unless the engine was running hot before this happened I wouldn't suspect that to be the case. It sounds like a snapped belt possibly (probably?) due to an improperly adjusted tensioner or bad tensioner bearing.

[dwellfrosis]

can the tensioner bearings go bad? causing a lock up? if so wouldnt i have heard a cluck or something? and 1 last thing before i go to the car, could advancing the timing 5 degrees have caused the motor to run hotter and possibly burning a hole in the top of a piston resulting in the quick turning over?

[dwellfrosis]

im a slow typer thanx ill check tensioner 1st

[dwellfrosis]

does anyone have a better manual than a haynes in a pdf format for the 1993 ford festiva L?

[htchbck]

Here ya go.

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showpost.php?p=394388&postcount=19

And for burning holes in pistons... possibly... but check that belt first, its the easiest, then go from there. I bought a festiva once with a bad motor, it had a hole in a piston. It made a weird noise turning over, but it didn't turn over extremely fast or anything. It sounds to me like its not getting compression on multiple cylinders (since the cam likely isn't moving and allowing valves to close) and also it will spin faster because its not having to overcome the spring forces on the valves by spinning the cam, if the belt is broken.

[dwellfrosis]

timing belt installation help

are there any special tips or tricks or do's and don'ts that will help me install my timing belt correctly? the last owner didn't install it right so it broke on me. replacing tensioner and spring as well.

[ckiesman]

after doing the timing belt on my 92, all i can suggest is to take your time. It took me a few tries to get the cam drive gear lined up right. Mine was also a very tight fit.

[FestYboy]

while you're in there, replace the cam seal.... and an extra 20min should be set asside to replace the crank seal as well. doing these will save you headaches later. you should also search for the R&R water pump thread where i list all the tools you'll need and the step by step to get at it. there are instructions for timing belt install in there.

Here, forth post down.

[GenevaDirt]

wellll....did you figure it out? If you have not looked yet also check that the cam gear is turning properly....not sheared....by the description you say it catches sometimes, which would not happen if the belt is broken.

[Pu241]

Yeah Geneva he figured it out, and then started a new thread, which I then merged with his original post (this thread), so that the cause and fix are contained in the same thread.