Quick synopsis, I was driving around today and all of a sudden, my car starts stuttering while driving around. Pull into a parking lot and my car kinda sounds like a Subie. The exhaust note is way deeper, the whole exhaust is shaking, and it revs up but sounds like crap on the way up. I'm guessing spark at this time...maybe a bad plug or coil. But then I looked at the timing.

When it comes to the 2.1L, I know it's like the 2.4L in that you line the top marks up and then advance it 3.4 or so. That's all correct on my car and everything is fine up top. But when I look down low, the crank is advanced a tooth or so. Is that correct or is that supposed to be lined up with the mark on the block as well? Couldn't really find an answer on the crank on other threads, they were all just about the timing up top.

And if it not correct and the crank jumped a tooth, would it cause all the symptoms aforementioned? I've driven my car with the timing off before (one tooth) and I didn't notice anything different.

Thanks in advance!

 

Crank pulley should line up with timing mark on cover. Your timing is off. Too far off and you're bending valves. You'll need to correct the timing and check your compression.