'>>27635698
Is the performance also lawnmower like?
Did you forget to plug in some vacuum lines ?';

'>>27635709
Uhhh, not really? It does idle worse, it runs worse, when I decel or engine brake I might hear some thuds, but it's not as loud as a misfire. And if it were a proper misfire my ECU would shit itself and throw a code. But I'm not sure if I would call it lawnmower tier, it can still rev up to redline without blowing up...
The only vacuum line I didn't plug back in was the cruise control one. I don't see why that would affect anything as the CC was broken already and I don't believe it has physical lines to the engine.
My PCV tube is 20 years old, so it might have cracked, but I really doubt a small tear like that would completely destroy my exhaust?';

'>>27635722
Small exhaust leaks can throw off everything. Make sure to plug any vacuum ports that aren't being used anymore.

Also its possible that you lined up one of the cam gears on the wrong tooth.';

'>>27635754
is there a way to check my timing without using a timing light? I figured my engine would've thrown a code if something was majorly off.';

'>>27635762
Its more likely an intake/vacuum leak or you forgot to plug something in. But I think you have to pull the timing cover off and check the marks on the gears.

What year and region BTW?';

'>>27635809
1999 civic. i live in the US. the timing belt change was diy btw.
I'm gonna change my spark plugs and valve cover gasket if it's not raining tomorrow so hopefully that helps it. I can also tape up the PCV tube ig but I'm not sure if it'll do much of anything.';

'>>27635722
not plugging that cc vacuum line thingy on the intake manifold can have some of those negative effects you were referring to.';

'>>27637304
seriously? I guess I can take a look. Like I said I think it was already broken. Would that really cause an exhaust leak this bad?';

'>>27635722
I always took off the governor on lawnmowers, and ran them at max possible rpm. They were probably spinning at 8k. But it takes a while to rev up.';

'Are you the guy with the loosey goosey timing belt?
I think we told you to check the ignition timing. If youre changing the plugs, you might as well do the distributor and wires as well.';

'>>27637400
Maybe, was it like 2 months ago? The timing belt isn't loose anymore. At least it shouldn't be. I'm going to check it, I bought a new tensioner spring so I can replace all that this weekend if need be.
Do you mean ignition timing as in turning the screw on the distributor? Don't I need a timing light to calibrate that? I'm too retarded to use a light.
>might as well do the distributor and wires as well
Well I didn't buy those parts so it's just gonna be the plugs for today. A new distributor is like $300 for a car this old.';

'one last bump before I start wrenching';

'>>27638257
maybe just check your timing with whatever the procedure is. you might be 1 tooth off like the other said. ive never heard a car with 1 off but i have heard with like 4 or 5 off. wou9ldnt really start but would hit randomnly.

only the timing belt right? had a weird problem once when i put a new fuel pump in but had retimed the engine right before it. wouldnt rev right but would run';

'you may have installed the belt a tooth off. line the cams up and check that the crank is in the right spot.
>when i decel it thuds
did you properly tighten the motor mount back up?
when you removed the mount to do the belt did you possibly open up an exhaust leak before the converter by lowering or raising the engine too much?
>vacuum lines
make sure they're all hooked back up, including that cruise control one.
those early PGM-FI OBDII ECUs were difficult to get them to set misfire codes. the misfire pretty much has to be a dead miss that's consistent.';

'>>27637982
>i paid like 4x over the manufacturer's cost for something
x30 in this thread

shit guys, ROCKAUTO. for 1 rotor for my moms buick regal was 90 bucks. rockauto? i can buy that same piece of shit for probably less than 15$, not counting shipping. and are y ou seriuosly even going to take it back when it wears OUT to autozone for the lifetime warranty? lol. ive done shit like that but seriously. and you can get top quiality shit from rockauto from cardone, raybestos, acdelco, delphi, everything.
>durpee durp durpalast
i bought inner and outer tie rods for my 90 geo prizm from them, and paid 120$. within a year the inner tie rod had no hold left to it at all. and one outer tie rod, just ate itself away.
returned half of it got 60 bucks back. then bought on manufacturer clearance for around 70 bucks, inner and outer tie rods, acdelco gold their good stuff. used that for about 70k miles and the inner tie rods still have some hold to them, and the outer tie rods are still difficult to pull around and there greasable.

jesus christ, had a buddy who I asked him were he gets his parts, he has an older model japanese honda car, and he just told me, amazone ebay and shit. that junk? holy fuck. i asked if he knew about rockauto. said he'd never heard of it.';

'>>27638279
Well the timing couldn't be off more than one or two teeth. If it was, the car just wouldn't start. And if it did my engine would've destroyed itself already.
The FSM procedure is literally just "line the marks up and let the spring do everything for you."
During my install, I didn't take the back timing cover off (isn't necessary to replace the belt" and I did the change in engine, so it's possible that my cam gears are not level with the block or something.I also had to tighten with a crowbar as the spring was basically dead after 20 years.
We will see. I'm going to do a more thorough investigation over the weekend, and eventually I will probably save up to replace the wires and distributor. I also need to replace all my rotors and my pads first though.';

'>>27638340
>did you properly tighten the motor mount back up?
I didn't follow any special procedure other than putting a jack under the oil pan (with a cushion of course). That's actually a pretty good theory though, I may have jacked it up too high. How would I go about fixing that? Take my exhaust manifold off and install a new gasket? Or would the leak be where my manifold meets the cat?
>those early PGM-FI OBDII ECUs were difficult to get them to set misfire codes
Pretty sure my car will throw a misfire code if the crank position sensor is off by enough or something.
>>27638378
Damn this website has pretty decent prices. I usually buy chinkshit off ebay, or OEM parts off ebay.';

'>>27638386
theres usually some procedure like, check the position of this one thing, then check you're timing marks. mine its check the exhaust camshaft slit for the distributor to key into angle. then check camshaft timing marks';

'>>27638399
and good quality shit. yea yea i know. im about ready to make a thread that should just be stickied. i did the same thing until i searched online for "a site with shit for my car fs" site, and found that. i then spent time going through everything i could replace and refreshed my 20 year old at that time car. shits still in good shape 10 years later.';

'>>27638400
Yes the procedure in the FSM is braindead simple. You turn the engine over by hand 3 times, check the marks on cams and crank and make sure it all lines up.';

'>>27638405
I feel retarded. Even through eBay, when I did my timing belt change, I spent about 500 in parts. Found kits with everything I bought plus extra shit I SHOULD'VE bought on eBay like a month later.
There are brake/rotor combos on here for $50! A combo like that would cost double on eBay and it'd be some shitty knockoff company nobody's heard of. Assuming shipping isn't insane I can probably fix my car up entirely this summer, holy shit.';

'>>27638409
thats the exact response i was expecting
same thing I said
>holy shit';

'>>27638399
your exhaust leak is most likely at whatever gasket connects your cat to the manifold+collector part of your exhaust. The gasket after the cat could also be compromised. When you jack up or lower the engine too much those connections see the most stress.
If it has a knock sensor it'll use that to set the misfire code, otherwise it'll look for a blatant and repeating slowdown in the cam/crank pos sensor pulses.';

'Seeing car people learn about Rock Auto is like seeing somebody learn you can go to the grocery store instead of McDonald's.';

'>>27638378
>>27638399
>>27638405
>>27638409
>>27638414
I'm going to inform you that with Rockauto there is a chance you're buying some shit that was either a factory B-grade/reject or has been sitting on a warehouse shelf for a very long time (which is bad for rubber parts)
Rockauto also, for example doesn't list the actual OEM accessory belt for my car and all the others are legitimately inferior, even from conti and gates. Those are good, and way cheaper than a $60 mopar part, but they arent good enough to last 140k miles like the factory original did, not when redlined 5x or more a week in hot summer temps the way I do.
"the same part" considerably cheaper carries some risks.

Also you can usually find the parts on Amazon for a higher list price, but can come out to less overall if you have free shipping.
My brake rotors were $44 on rock, 54 on amazon, and $65 at NAPA. With rockauto the shipping was going to add $38, so the amazon order including pads was $10 less.
Also, rockauto forces me to use fedex garbage 3rd party contractor delivery for where I live while amazon is straight from UPS. So for me at least some options are better or worse depending on the situation, your mileage may vary.';

'>>27638994
Anon, MOPAR doesn't make belts';

'>>27639003
please, stop assuming other posters don't know things you want to point out

the OEM belt is, regardless of who makes it, only stamped with a MOPAR label and mopar specific part number references. for all intents and purposes the only source for the belt is a mopar labelled OEM sale as you cannot find the equivalent from any manufacturer. I have looked, spent hours trying to find the belt from the actual manufacturer to not pay the mopar tax. It doesn't exist.';

'>>27638994
also the Amazon returns system is much more customer friendly and rockauto makes you pay the return shipping and if the part was wrong despite it being marked as the correct part for your application, they won't want it back. (all of the 1986-89 Accord condensers on RockAuto have the wrong condenser to drier fitting, didn't realize it until it was in the car and the line wouldn't fully fit because it was like 1 mm difference)';

'>>27635754
>>27635809
>>27637400
>>27638279
>>27638340
UPDATE anons, I wrenched yesterday and got busy srry.
I replaced my spark plugs and a valve cover bolt I snapped. I wasn't able to fix my valve cover gasket because the one I bought off ebay didn't fucking fit, go figure. At least it's torqued down all the way so hopefully the old gasket can hold up a little longer, I didn't see any oil leaking out of there.

Here are my obeservations:
- Replacing the spark plugs added a ~20% power boost. My engine still sounds off but it's a lot better than before. The old plugs were worn to shit, not only rounded tip but they were worn down to a little stick. I'm not sure if indium plugs are supposed to do that but I guess the prev. owner never changed them even after 120k miles.
- The timing marks seemed to be okay. The cams are in line with each other. The crank seemed to be at TDC as well, but I could only see marks on the crank pulley, the mark it's supposed to line up with is actually not on the timing belt cover. But it looked like the crank was where it should be.
- The belt is too tight, I can tell because it howls. But it's not shredded up or anything, and I'm not too worried about it because too tight just means it might not last as long.
- I could smell burnt coolant (sweet caramelized smell) but it's NOT because of a leaking head gasket. It's because there's literally coolant pooled up in various crevices (can visually see it) from when I did a flush a while back, and I guess over the past month it's been burning off. I do not think I have a coolant leak because the coolant is green (color I used for flush) and not blue (color I left in the system). So it's possible my exhaust leak isn't nearly as bad as I thought, and that the coolant is just burning off slowly.

I ran out of time and wasn't able to test my spark plug wires or advance my timing. I'll try to do that this weekend.';

'>>27640539
loosen your timing belt or you idler and water pump bearings are going to disintegrate and fuck your motor';

'>>27640547
They're only a month old right now. I'll loosen it with a new tension spring and bolt when I have time. Correct me if I'm wrong but even with an over tightened belt those components should last 50k miles.';

'>>27640550
you'll probably be fine i just don't like the take chances with things like that. i need my cars to not leave my stranded because im hours from home every day.';

'The old spark plugs btw. Am I correct in assuming these were fucked?';

'>>27641550
they don't look too bad but they're definitely used';