QuestionQUESTION: I spent this afternoon changing the water pump on my Chrysler Concorde 3.5L. I changed the timing belt in November and did not change the pump at the time, to save a little money.....bad idea!
This time however after puting vehicle back together it wont start. I aligned the crank shaft keyway with the TDC mark on oil cover and aligned the camshafts between the 'dots', released tensioner, cranked motor over a few times and rechecked. Passenger side needed to be moved one tooth to position it within dots. Assembled and wouldn't start. Checked compression, to see if I have cam timing off and found the pass front cylinder has 95 ft lbs and the drivers front cylinder has 110 ft lbs of cylinder pressure. Plugs smell of fuel and I have spark.
My questions are,is that the proper alignment of camshafts to crankshaft? Had no paperwork to go off of on this job, other than just your generic 'screw the pump in the hole' instructions. The car drove here and now it won't run, if the alignment is right, do you have any other ideas for me to check.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, it is our only vehicle.
ANSWER: Hi Robert,
Is sounds like the timing is OK, if by 'keyway' you mean the notch in crank sprocket (that notch is at the inboard edge of the sprocket itself, not the crankshaft per se). So check that out.
Also, did you pull the pin on the tensioner?
The other things to try would be a fault code readout: 'on-off-on-off-on and leave on" doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light, which remains 'on', to see it begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause, then repeat to assure an accurate set of flash counts. The last two sets are always 5 in each. Let me know the counts and we'll go from there. If there are no other codes than 5-5, then check the egr valve to be sure that it isn't stuck slightly ajar, by moving the stem of the valve with the tip of a screwdriver and checking that spring-action closes the valve to a dead stop. If you have spark and fuel, then mixture might be the issue which an egr valve ajar will mess up.
Roland
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---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you for the fast response!
Actually I did mean the keyway on the crankshaft itself, that is what I aligned the crankshaft to tdc with. The keyway appeared to locate the timing belt sprocket and so that what I assumed was my locater.
I got the codes from the vehicle and they where 12, 21, 31 and 32. I am aware of the purge and left O2 sensor......but it is starting to look like I better tear back into it and double check this mark on the crank sprocket, to double check my alignment. I just assumed that with compression it was ok.
AnswerHi Robert,
I am not certain whether the keyway is at a different angular position than the notch in the crank sprocket but the manual certainly didn't reference the keyway.
You might first want to check that egr valve 'action' because the 32 code says it isn't responding as it should or its solenoid circuit could be bad. But the solenoid circuit would not cause a no start, while the valve being stuck ajar could definitely do it.
The 31 is about the evap solenoid involved in the vapor collection system and shouldn't affect starting.
Roland
PS Please 'rate' me. Thanks
