There Comes A Moment. . .
It won’t go faster than 45 MPH
I’m working on my daughter’s car. She’s a kid. It’s a kid’s car and she drives like a kid. She’s hard on her car.
There are several reasons a car might not go faster than 45 MPH; fuel issues, mechanical issues, compression, timing belt.
I started in checking the fuel lines and compression pressure. And it quickly became clear that the problem was more likely the timing belt.
My daughter, naturally has been curious on what was wrong, how long it would take to fix and how much it would cost.
Today, I finally got the pullies, belts, and shields off. And as I removed the lower shield I could finally see the crankshaft. And the I could see the timing belt and the missing teeth.
There are not supposed to be missing teeth on a timing belt.
There comes a moment when you go from simply believing you know what’s wrong to actually knowing what’s wrong.
This was that moment.
And with knowledge came understanding. A failing timing belt could certainly keep your car from going fast. But, that’s not the only thing a failing timing belt will do.
This car had an interference engine. I won’t go into the details of interference vs non-interference engines. An interference engine gets better gas milage. A non-interference engine can survive a broken timing belt without bending valves.
So, tomorrow we pull the head off. Take it down to a machine shop and see how much it will cost to get new valves installed. When I pull the head, I will be able to look at the pistons. And that will be another point at which my belief will turn into knowledge. Will the piston heads be damaged?
There will come a moment. . .
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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