Hard starting after Timing Belt Change - Runs Fine when started?

[LeidenK]

Hi There,

I recently did a Timing Belt & Balancing belt replacement as my car was at 100,000 kms. During the operation I was using the battery to power a small 12v light to see in dark places. This drained the battery a bit. When I had got it all back together It would seem to turn over fine, but wouldnt fire. I kept trying until a clicking sound coming from the startor motor. First I thought I stuffed up the timing, but I gave the battery a change anyway for about 15 minutes and it started almost instantly. It was revvin at about 1200 RPM but then dropped to about 700. I let it sit for about 10 mins Idling to give the battery a little charge before going to bed. In the morning the car started fine, almost instantly again.

Anyway, since it all went so well I gave my car a good clean out, inside and out. My Dad then got the bright idea to waterblast the motor and apply blackner to all the pipes. He spent about 20 mins under there and eventually it looked spankin'. Anyway the car sat for a couple of hours with the bonnet up to let everything dry out.

Later that day I went to start it and It turned over fine for the first two startor strokes, but then sounded as if it was turning over slower and slower. After about 4 - 5 strokes it fired up. I thought maybe the battery drained a little so I took it for a drive for about 1hr. I then parked it up and went to bed.

In the morning I had the same problem, except this time it was a little longer before it fired. When it ran it ran like normal, but when starting it sounded as if it was seizing up the more the startor motor turned it over. The strokes were getting slower and slower.

I went to work and after work I had the same problem, work is around 30 mins out of town and I'm drivin' at around 100kms so its revving at 3,000 usually. I thought that would have given it a good charge. Sure enough after work it was again hard to start. Once it had been running for a while it would start again after the first or seccond stroke. Only when its been sitting for a few hours is it hard to start.

The problem seems to be getting worse, the alternator is quite hot -- too hot to touch after trips, dont know if thats normal? The battery has a little built in meter thing which tells if it needs chargin, fresh water, or fine. The display shows that its fine and I'm not getting a battery light while I'm driving. I have checked water and oil and everything is fine. Oil is a little black but Its due in another 2000km's.

I've noticed sometimes it will do it and other times it's fine. More often than not it takes about 5 strokes, each one sounding slower than the last, until it finally starts up. I also noticed once or twice it makes a nock sound just as it's about to fire. The timing was fine, it lined up pretty good after about 6 turns of the crackshaft.

I have a few ideas of what it could be,

1: Oil leaking onto the sparkplugs?
2: Faulty startor motor?

Sometimes it seems like the battery is totally dead when starting, when the startor turns over it makes a click sound under the dash. Its not a click from the startor motor. It always seems to start fine though. Even with the clicks.
I really need help, could a waterblasting to the motor have caused something like this, or would incorrect timing do it? I also took apart the startor motor to jam a screwdriver into the teeth of the flywheel to get that pulley bolt undone. I didnt damage the teeth and I put the startor motor back together the way it came apart.

Please help

Thanks!

[jclark]

Lots of things to check but I think you may have gotten water in
your alternator and possbly hurt it.
Do you have an AutoZone store nearby? If so, take your car there and they
can check your alternator on the car.
If they can't, see if they can or somewhere else can test it if you
take it off and bring it to them. A lot of places will do that for free.
I would check that first, it shouldn't be getting that hot.
Also, take your distributor cap off and make sure it's dry and clean inside.
Same with the plug wire bays at the engine.

[LeidenK]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I've got it booked in at Bindons so they can run a diagnostic on it. I got some 556 Water Displacement stuff and sprayed a bit into all the connections etc. Car ran like total crap for a few minutes but then came right.

I noticed that its only hard to start when hot. If its a really cold morning it starts right off the bat.

I think the alternator is fine, I've been running it as it is for a couple of days driving usually at night with lights on and the battery is keeping charged. It may have been hot due to working hard to charge the dead battery?

[lightning21]

You said that the timing on the crank and cam was lined up, but perhaps you should try adjusting the spark timing through the distributor. If you loosen the three mounting bolts on the distributor it has about ten degrees of adjustment that you can do by hand, just moving it slowly until the idle sounds good. If the spark timing is advanced or retarded too much that could make it hard to start, but would typically also result in a rough idle through all the RPM range. but it's worth a try.