timing problems lumina z34

timing belt broke, took it to the shop they put new timing belt, pulleys , and know it starts hard, nd the steering is funny and the engine makes a funny sound, what could the problem, be know

either they put the belt on wrong, which is easy to do on these, or when the belt broke that you crashed some valves, probably the culprit. run a compression test, if all cylinders are roughly the same after about 4 huffs of air, even if they are low, then the timing is off, if on one bank all cylinders are low, timing is also off, if only a couple cylinders are low, then you have crashed valves.

on the Z34s if you eat a timing belt you usually screw up your engine big time but destroying valves or something of the sort. maintenance is HIGHLY HIGHLY important! never let it go, every 60k get your belt replaced... just for safety i would say 50k.

your timing could also just be off, do what tblake said and check your timing.

How much did it cost for you to get the belt replaced? The shop around here estimated that it would be $500 to $1000 to get it fixed. Overall, this is a horrible car. Within the first month i got it , the alternator went out. The alternator costed $600 to get replaced. A week after i got it out of the shop, one of the fuel injectors was clogged. The injector costed $65. Then back in December, the timing belt went out. Now it is sitting in my garage and I just went out and bought a 98 dodge ram.

What year is your 3.4? 91-95 are non-interference engines, so unless you were approching 6000rpm when your belt decided it was done, your valves should be ok. 96+ belt snap, if you weren't at idle, hmmm... I'd worry a little.

What year is your 3.4? 91-95 are non-interference engines, so unless you were approching 6000rpm when your belt decided it was done, your valves should be ok. 96+ belt snap, if you weren't at idle, hmmm... I'd worry a little.

Yup. Even though they are considered non-interference motors....I've found crunched valves in 'em after belt pops...

It is a 1991. When it broke i was driving up my street so it couldnt have been at 6000 rpms because i wasnt racing up the street. As i was pulling up to the stop, it suddenly died and wouldn't start back up.

At any rate, you need the cam timing verified and a compression check before any more can be said about it...

Elaborate about the steering. I'm curious what it has to do with it.

Technically, you are correct Manny, but if it has developed the well known piston slap issues on GM 60 degree V-6's, they become an interference engine. I would bet either the timing belt is a tooth or two off, or one cylinder is dead due to smacked valves. A compression test will confirm.

Technically, you are correct Manny, but if it has developed the well known piston slap issues on GM 60 degree V-6's, they become an interference engine.

What is the piston slap issue? My 95 3.1 is making an almost rithmatic slapping noise in gear. At park or nuetral, it seems to not be there. I was unsure if it is the tranny or engine. How difficult is it to change the T-belt yourself? I am used to old chevy 350's, but these I am not sure.

Thanks in advance,
Mud

What is the piston slap issue? My 95 3.1 is making an almost rithmatic slapping noise in gear. At park or nuetral, it seems to not be there. I was unsure if it is the tranny or engine. How difficult is it to change the T-belt yourself? I am used to old chevy 350's, but these I am not sure.

Thanks in advance,
Mud

Your 3.1 has a chain. You might be hearing any of a number of things. The slap noise usually goes away as the engine warms up. If it's only under load from the tranny when in gear, I'd look for a bad mount/restrictor, flywheel to TC bolts, exhaust hanger broken, etc.

PS a certain amount of racket when cold is pretty standard for the 3.1

She is actually quite when cold, noisy when warmed up.
When she is cold at idle in park, the engine will actually shimmy the car like a 350 with a big lope cam in it. When hot, she is still, buit has that wierd slap or irratic knock. Today. I noticed the oil light flickering to the beat this morning on my way to work. Again, all this at operating temp and about 30 minutes of driving at 70mph.

P.S. should I be concerned with the T-chain with 150K miles on the original?

P.S. should I be concerned with the T-chain with 150K miles on the original?

If you locate the sound as being tesioner slop letting the chain rattle, yes.

She is actually quite when cold, noisy when warmed up.
When she is cold at idle in park, the engine will actually shimmy the car like a 350 with a big lope cam in it. When hot, she is still, buit has that wierd slap or irratic knock. Today. I noticed the oil light flickering to the beat this morning on my way to work. Again, all this at operating temp and about 30 minutes of driving at 70mph.

Shit. You've got a sloppy crank main, sounds like.

So I'm SOL?

So I'm SOL?

Not 100% certain, but in my experience there's only three things that make an oil light flicker with engine revs.

Bad sender, reading pressure too low, bad oil pump, or a really sloppy main bearing bleeding oil pressure, making system pressure too low.

If you're knocking on one cylinder, I'd bet on the last one.

If you pull the pan and catch it before it wears all the way through the bearing shell and scores the crank, it's relatively simple to replace the bearing.

You could inspect the pump and pickup too.

Is replacing the main bearing a weekend project or do I need to send it to a shop?
I did notice today that if you take it out of gear at a stop light, the knocking goes away. Seems like it knocks more when stopped at a light and in gear. Cruising down the road at 30mph or more, there seems to be no noise.
The oil light comes on real quick and goes away when I shift back into gear from sitting park or neutral.
I am praying for an easy weekend project.

What year is yours?

95 3.1

95 3.1


http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0e/cd/db/0900823d800ecddb.jsp#hd1-1-3


This all assumes that the motor is out of the car and on a stand. You can do it with the motor in the car, provided you can remove the oil pan and have room to work inside the bottom.

Once the caps are off, the crank will drop slightly, enough to get bearing shells in and out. In your case I'd remove the caps one at a time at first, and look at each for obvious scoring/blueing/extreme wear out of spec.

That way you should be able to simply put the cap back on and re-torque it if it appears normal, and move to the next one. The lower shell is always going to be worse than the upper (carries harsher loading), so if the lower looks good, the upper is fine, most likely.

If you find a bad one, you'll have to replace it, and make sure the crank journal is OK.

If the mains look good, the rod bearings should be checked. Actually before doing anything to the crank I'd give all the rods a shake and if you find one that has any obvious slop around the big end, it's got a bearing issue also. They can knock before you can really feel the movement, so it's not a given that this will find a bad one. Usually they've been hammering for a while when they are bad enough to feel it.

I wouldn't bet on it being a weekender if you aren't familiar with the job (or even if you are), seems like you always find something unexpected.

I pulled apart a Mazda 323 with a knock a while back...it spun a rod bearing and needed a new crank and bearings. The guy didn't want to mess with it. He gave me the title, I put in an undersized bearing coated with axle grease, put it back together and dumped 4 qts of 50W in it, and drove it to the salvage yard.

Sounded fine for about the first 5 miles :lol: Was beginning to knock again when I got there.

Would you repair or find a new ride?
Just trying to figure out what I should do.
Thanks for all the info.

If I was'nt afraid of getting dirty, wouldn't feel like killing myself if it went wrong, and had a plan B, I'd try to fix it.

I have a lil rice burner sitting the driveway collecting dust right now.
I can always use it to get to and from work for a week till I got it finished.
Thanks again for the input. Have a great one Jeff.
Mud