I'd already posted on the r3v FB page, but figured I'd do it here too.
So I've gone ahead and done 3 things:
Start up the car, she starts but idles low, like 500 - 600 rpm low. Ran it like that for a while (~15 mins) since I was bleeding the cooling system as well, and maybe it was the barometric pressure sensor acting up. No dice, car still idles low.
Some things I've done:
I know the car needs a valve adjustment, so I'm going to do one. But I'm kind of out of ideas right now past a vacuum leak which I've yet to check. I checked the timing marks multiple times before reassembling the radiator and hoses and they lined up perfectly, so this has to be something in between then and now. Would appreciate some more insights.
So I've gone ahead and done 3 things:
- Full coolant hose replacement (mix of Conti and OEM) along with a distilled water flush.
- Timing belt job (WP, sintered cam + intermediate gears, cam seal, Conti belt)
- Accessory belts (Conti + Gates for AC)
- I had an issue when removing/installing the cam gear, where the crank would move out of time vs the cam gear. Posted on the r3v FB page, and was told I could move the crank independent of the cam as long as I wasn't hilariously out. I wasn't hilariously out so I did just that to get both crank and cam back in time.
- When installing the cam seal, I like an idiot forgot to take a pic of the seal after install to confirm that it was installed properly. It was suggested that this may be a source of vac leaks, but I figure it should accompany an oil leak. No oil leak so far.
- During initial install of the timing belt, I had a lot of slack in the longest unsupported belt run (crank -> intermediate gear -> cam) after releasing the tensioner. So I ended up removing the tensioner and re-installing the belt. I did not attempt to turn the engine during the initial install. Only after re-installing did I turn the engine before allowing the tensioner to tension the belt, then allowed the tensioner to tension the belt. POSSIBLY IMPORTANT INFO (gathered as the correct process from various r3v posts).
Start up the car, she starts but idles low, like 500 - 600 rpm low. Ran it like that for a while (~15 mins) since I was bleeding the cooling system as well, and maybe it was the barometric pressure sensor acting up. No dice, car still idles low.
Some things I've done:
- Distributor not firings spark plugs: plugs were removed after the bleeding. They look fairly normal for ~20k km plugs.
- I'd still need to crank the car with the plugs off to see if they spark.
- Loose ICV hoses: replaced both (OEM + URO, yes yes I'll replace the URO one when I can).
- Broken intake elbow: it's a cheap Dorman unit from 2021, checked it but there's no cracks. In the past I have had issues with getting it onto the throttle body well enough and creating a vacuum leak, so I'm keeping this option open.
- Valve cover hose broken: not broken, was replaced with OEM in 2023.
I know the car needs a valve adjustment, so I'm going to do one. But I'm kind of out of ideas right now past a vacuum leak which I've yet to check. I checked the timing marks multiple times before reassembling the radiator and hoses and they lined up perfectly, so this has to be something in between then and now. Would appreciate some more insights.
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