I recently had my timing belt changed and the car came back I thought it seemed a little rougher at idle, but I didn't think that much of it. I mentioned it today to a mechanic and he thought it sounded like the timing belt was put on incorrectly. to make a long story short, he pulled the cover off and the exhaust side is off by a tooth and he thought I could be looking at some big problems since it is an interference engine. So I am asking, if the exhaust is off one tooth, is the interference that close that I have likely bent some valves? If I am screwed, how bad and what other damage is likely there?

 

YUP!!!!! If it's off by one tooth you have a problem. Take it back to the Mechanic.

 

sounds like they're gonna owe you some valves

 

when they give you a check for the valves, upgrade to metal ones.

 

One tooth will not make your pistons hit your valves.

 

Not to be a smart ***, but were any of these reponses coming from a mechanic who knows evos? I got some saying its a big deal, another saying one tooth won't do it. Hopefully, one of the gurus will chime in a let me know the situation.

thanks

 

i'm a tech for honda but i've worked on a lot of evo's i've seen one tooth bend valves and i've also seen evo's with one tooth off and everything is fine. but if the idle is rougher like your saying it is then its possible that the valves are bent.

 

Ok. Here is the deal. I had the exhaust cam off one tooth as well. Had no valve damage. MITSU actually effed it up. I took it in for warranty to get a new head and when i went to install my headstuds I put the car to TDC to find the exhaust cam off a tooth. I was livid however it wont cause an issue. Best bet is to have them take the car apart anyways since they did put it on 1 tooth off and check. I do alot of timing belts and the evo took a little getting used to due to the fact that the marks line up a little strange. one thing that I have found for the t-belt though is that if all of the marks are lined up the belt goes on smooth. I have done alot of timing belts now. Lots of headstuds installs cams etc etc. I think its pretty bad if a mechanic screws up the timing belt. That shouldnt be something they screw up. Could be too that the tension was too loose. I hope they were going by a manual. I took a guys car apart to find that the timing belt tensioner pully was tensioned in the wrong direction. It was odd! I fixed that up. Make sure that when they do the belt they do it right. make sure that the pin goes in and out of the tensioner 15 minutes after they rotate it 2 revolutions. Then rotate it again 4 more revolutions to get it back to TDC. I let it sit again for 15 minutes and check the pin one more time but Im **** when it comes to that stuff. I guess everyone is different. SOrry for all the loaded bs thats in this reply just letting you know how its done. Take it back to them and tell them you want it all checked out for free. Actually tell them that you are pissed that they screwed it up and that you want them to pay for someone else to take a look at it haha. someone who knows what they are doing
my 2 cents.

 

 

Well if the thing still runs than the valves are probably fine.

 

it can have bent valves and still run... it would just run like $hit..... do a compression test and if all is good then don't worry about it

 

If its just off one tooth you shouldnt have any bent valves but just get it checked out.

 

you shouldnt have bent valves until you are up to 4 teeth off timing if you want to be really sure set it back on time and then do a compression check to ensure its ok but it should not have any bent valves. evos are unique cars and take special technichians to work on them when it comes time to do a timming belt do your research on the mechanics you are taking it to ask him questions evo experience etc.

 

+1

 

I can confirm this because when my balance shaft belt broke and wrapped around my crank gear and caused my car to jump 4 teeth on exhaust and intake and all the valves were fine.