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View Full Version : Black Volvo that was broken at the autocross school



shanehutton
05-26-2009, 11:37 PM
I figured one or two of you might be interested in knowing what ended up being wrong with my car. A lot of you guys were very helpful and it was your helpful advice that made me want to join SPDA.

As you might remember my car was way down on power in the low RPMs and I couldn't figure out what the problem was.
Well, this weekend I decided to dig into it and see what I could find. I had a hunch that something was off with the timing cause the car made tons of power over 4000 rpm and felt like it could pull way past redline. Everything looked o.k. at the belt/pulley side but the reference marks a bit vague. I decided to pull everything off the other side of the engine so i could see the reference marks on the other end of the cams and use the stick through the plug hole method to find TDC. It turns out that my intake cam was retarded a full tooth.
Quick test drive confirmed that this was the problem. I would say I gained about 80lb/ft between 2000 - 4000 rpm

I would love to know how the last owner got the timing belt changed and didn't notice that the car lost that much power. I get a pass on this cause I never had a reference and I just assumed that the car wasn't supposed to make much power until 3500 rpm.

I can finally pull away from a stop without being embarrassed.

JoeT
05-26-2009, 11:52 PM
Good work!! Glad you found the problem, now you can play harder with no worries.

shanehutton
05-27-2009, 08:19 AM
I also tracked down a manual transmission swap but I have to wait a month or so until he is pulling it out of the car. That's when I can play for real.

Anyone want to help me swap a tranny?

Nuwan
05-28-2009, 08:03 PM
Great news, any fix that doesn't cost money is a good one!

I would have never thought of that to be the issue when we were trying to diagnose it. I don't remember there being a check engine light?

Luckily it wasn't the exhaust cam, or you'd have some burnt valves to replace. :)

Now do that 5psd swap anyways!

shanehutton
05-29-2009, 08:45 AM
Yep. 1 full tooth off and no CEL.

I should have the swap parts in about a month. Still have no idea where I am doing it yet. Gotta love living in a condo. :(