Tightened timing belt, now non-starter?

[dezire2003]

I tightened my timing belt today, as it was whistling. Then before that adjusted the cold idle and thought the co2 mixture was too high, so set it lower - was running sweetly then went to start her up and it turned over and almost started then nothing?

Any ideas?

My battery is flat now, so will charge it tomorrow but any help will be much appreciated.

Ps. all connections are intact.

[takethefifth]

I would check the timing belt again, make sure it hasn't jumped a notch or anything and failing that reset the mixture.

[dezire2003]

how would I know this? are there marks on the belt to line up?

[xxdansigxx]

no there are mark on the pullies though....

[DarnPB]

The only way to check to see if you have jumped a tooth or four on the pullies is to remove the belt cover completely. This is a bit of a job as it involves removing the bottom alternator belt pulley mounted on the crankshaft, and the water pump pulley. The cam belt runs round three toothed pullies. The camshaft, the crankshaft and the intermediate. Refit the crankshaft pulley, which can only be fitted in one position, so you can't get it wrong. You then turn the engine until No1 cylinder is in TDC (Top dead Centre). Once this is achieved, there is a punch mark on the back of the camshaft pulley. This should line up with the base of the cam cover. There are another two marks to check. There should be a grooved line on the crankshaft pulley, which should line up with a punch mark on the intermediate pulley (dizzy). The rotor arm should also be pointing to an indented line on the dizzy body.
If they don't line up, then loosen off the tensioner and take your time making sure they all line up properly. Then when you are happy, retension, check and return everything back to normal. If the engine does not want to run properly after this, then check your ignition timing.

One word of advice. If you have a number of jobs to do on the engine, do one job at a time, then test. Then go on to the next job, then test. This way you will narrow down the trouble shooting when things go pearshaped.

[vaughn]

I tightened my timing belt today, as it was whistling. Then before that adjusted the cold idle and thought the co2 mixture was too high, so set it lower - was running sweetly then went to start her up and it turned over and almost started then nothing?

Any ideas?

My battery is flat now, so will charge it tomorrow but any help will be much appreciated.

Ps. all connections are intact.

are you sure it was the timing belt and not the fan belt?
how do you know your car was running rich?
why adjust the cold idle?

[golf_clutz]

I think you mean the fan belt, too. This wouldnt cause the car to not start, even if you somehow got it ridiculously tight!. If you do mean the timing belt then yes, see response above re getting the teeth lined up. The fan belt does not have teeth, and is the one you can access without removing any covers. As you say it was whistling before you tightened it up, then thats the fan belt, the timing belt wouldnt whistle, or schreech when it slips, in the same way. This type of noise is more common in cold weather, until the engine warms up enough for the loose belt to grip a bit.