Tech help please. 01 Volvo S40 1.9

[Big_P]

Doing a timing belt and water pump on a buddy's Volvo.

Things started off kinda strange, using the puller to get the crank pulley off, the crank sprocket came out, too. Didn't get to line up the cams/crank before pulling the belt off. Oh well. Rear exhaust cam has VVT.

Replaced waterpump. Replaced timing belt. Timing marks are DEAD NUTS ON. Start engine, starts right away, revved it up a bit, seems okay. Put it back together, throw some coolant in it. Kicked out the lift and backed it out of the garage.

Runs like Shyt. It idles fine. Any amount of acceleration and it feels like a misfire.

Checked the plugs. They're wiped. Totally. Unfortunately, we don't stock plugs for a 2001 Volvo S40 1.9t at our shop. And it's 8:10pm on a Sunday, nobody is open. But it ran fine when it first came in.

. Took it apart again. Set timing. Again. Dead nuts on. Still runs like crap.


A few things I'm thinking about:

1: It can not be a timing problem. It runs fine at idle, and at acceleration it'll pick up and fall off like it's your run-of-the-mill misfire.

2: I noticed that when I line up the TDC mark on the crank sprocket/mark on the block, the piston is nowhere near TDC. It's actually 1/8 turn off. It's my understanding that Cylinder 1 has to be at the tippy top of the stroke. So all valves are closed. But, the timing marks say otherwise? Then again, I doubt the engine would run if the crank was 1/8 a turn off. Right? The crank sprocket only goes on one way so I couldnt have screwed that up.

3: Bad valve timing should set a check engine light. I do not have any codes related to that. I have a Misfire 1,2, and 4 pending, an O2 sensor code, and a thermostat code.

------' Volvos.

Help me out here. This thing is my ride home and I'm stuck at my shop 'til I get this squared away.

Should I just limp it home and throw plugs in it tomorrow?

This makes no sense to me. I do t-belts all the time (it is my job, after all), but never run into anything as weird as this?

[RoadWarrior222]

You absolutely sure you're setting to the right mark on the crank? dunno if Volvos are like that but have seen some cars with a timing mark 10-12 degrees ahead of TDC on crank pulley/damper.

That's a favorite Ford trick but think that one is on a Nissan platform.

Edit: BTW the ones I've seen like that the white spot or round divot is the ignition timing mark, whereas the notch is the TDC mark.

[BadAssPerformance]

moved to 'other vehicles' section :thumb:

[Big_P]

You absolutely sure you're setting to the right mark on the crank? dunno if Volvos are like that but have seen some cars with a timing mark 10-12 degrees ahead of TDC on crank pulley/damper.

That's a favorite Ford trick but think that one is on a Nissan platform.

Edit: BTW the ones I've seen like that the white spot or round divot is the ignition timing mark, whereas the notch is the TDC mark.

Much appreciated.

I ended up throwing a new set of NGK's in there and it runs like a raped ape. Can't explain why though, other than a weird coincidence.

[WVRampage]

I had the same issue with my 04 s40 1.9t and it was plugs,use the NGK platnums that are recomended it it the v powers will go after 15 to 20K also the timing is probably dead on I cant imagine geting it off after doing the belt on my car.