I have a 95 ford Ranger, 2.3 2wd ,Just broke a timing belt, I put on a new belt, triple checked everything before putting it back together. Now It starts right up fine, Is idleing a little lower than it used to, and has no power at all. I was just wondering if anyone could give me any suggestions on what is going on.

Could the cranksensor sprocket slip, could I be a tooth off on the belt, even though I triple checked it. Could a valve be bent, ect.


Thanks for any suggestions

 

You say it starts fine and idles ok but anything over that it just doesn't go? I know it may sound really stupid but, concidering everything is right on time ok like you say, did this engine burn any oil before it broke or is there any reason the exhaust could have gotten plugged up during the time you worked on it. I once changed a motor in a pinto and it would start and idle just fine but anything over idle speed it just would not do it. After many hours of pulling out hair ( not to mention taking half of everything back apart) I finally got the idea to disconnect the exhaust pipe and ZOOM! It turned out that the old motor had burned a lot of oil that plugged up the honeycomb -style catalytic converter and during the time it sat not running it all hardened up real good plugging it up completely. Your post sounded a bit like that so I thought it would be worth checking.

 

I just did the same thing you did and have the same problem with my 95 ranger. My guess is the cam timing is 2 or 3 teeth advanced even though all the marks are lined up. I noticed that I had to move the cam clockwise against the valve springs to get the marks lined up. I'm thinking that this years model have a different timing mark index than what is printed in the shelf manuals.

 

I know you don't want to hear this, but your problem is the timing needs to be rechecked. As a mechanic that installs many timing belts in many diferent engine makes, I can almost insure you that this is the case. I still mess up occasionally and I am a seasoned vetern. FWIW you need to set your timing marks and work all your slack in timing belt back to tensioner. It is hard to explain, but do not leave any slack on opposite side of tensioner it is easy way to get 1-2 teeth off once tension is applied. I'm nearly 100 percent sure your engine is non interference, if not you might have damaged valve when belt broke.

 

After many tries and busted knuckles, I figured it out. I have heard of this problem from other 95, 2.3 owners but none of them figured it out. Most towed it to the dealer and ponyed up the 5 bills to fix it. Here is what I found (I wish my Haynes Manual said something about this) ...

The back plate of the cam pulleyAND the oil pump pulley have a huge dimple in them leaving you to believe this is the timing mark. If you clean the backplate throughly, you will find a triangle stamp and a diamond stamp on each of these along with the huge dimple. The dimple is a "red herring" because it has nothing to do with the cam timing. At TDC, the triangle stamp lines up with the triangle timing mark on the back cover at the cam pulley and the diamond stamp on the oil pump pulley lines up with the diamond timing mark on the back cover at the oil pump pulley.

I wonder if Ford did this on purpose? Haynes doesn't discribe this critical problem either. Maybe this is how Haynes has become the Manual that Ford dealers now sell instead of their own. At least in this situation, the Haynes manual is completely useless because of its lack of detail.

BTW - I was sure the timing was wrong. Thanks for giving me a little push to dig deeper.

 

Newbie here and youve helped me tons, and your right about the haynes ive been wondering all weak long what i did wrong and you answered it Thanks a million.