1995 850 GLT poor running, bad Bremi off brand MAF Topic is solved

[vovo850]

I am looking for some feedback on my car. long post.. 850 GLT wagon automatic
I just did a timing belt kit last week so I'm sort of wondering if it's connected but I don't know for sure.
I do know, I need to adjust the timing, the cam lock tool fell off due to not being secured enough.
It was a piece of crap plastic one and I was worried about breaking it, tightening it down.
So the exhaust cam moved ever so slightly and we moved it back to where we had it marked.
After doing the timing belt the car wasn't running quite right, shifts felt off
low power on the bottom end, felt like I had to keep it over 2500 rpm to get a decent response,
which wasn't like that before. Kicked down way more often.
So I figure it's safe to say my exhaust timing is not right.
Well on thursday after probably 50 plus miles on the job, the car had a stutter going down the highway
than gradually grew worst and fell flat and stalled. It would rev high and have no acceleration
(felt like tranny was in neutral) start hiccuping act like it was going to stall and than pick up.
Trying to get over 30 mph would definitely cause it to want to die and it really wouldn't go over that.
It eventually died and ended up taking the tow of shame home.
I pulled some codes and what I have is..
Dummy me, I didn't pull codes before playing with the MAF so I may have tripped the code on that
MAF 121
IAC closing and opening signal 223 & 245
241 EGR system flow malfunction.
MAF was the first thing I checked. It didn't really seem to matter, it did idle rougher with it unplugged but smoothed out as much as it could.
It is an aftermarket several years old though (denso?) can't recall and can't see the lettering on it.
I took the IAC off and cleaned it out, but it really didn't look bad, the metal was still visible, not like other pictures I have seen.
So that leaves the EGR which I have never touched and I know I'm way past due for the PCV job.
Basically after this long story, would the EGR cause all the symptoms I have?
One other symptom I have is a hard brake on start up.
I asked here about it and was informed to check vacuum hoses, which I have looked at but not examined thoroughly yet.
But now I wonder if that is a symptom of the EGR as well, not being able to pull enough vacuum due to being clogged?
If the timing was that bad, or I did a bad job on it, I think it would have been obviously apparent right away?

I do plan on doing that PCV job
(already have the kit) and clean the EGR anyway now.
See how the car responds and than buy the MAF if it doesn't seem better.
Am I on the right track or should I look at something completely different?

[misha]

Aftermarket MAF is always a bad idea on these cars.
Bosch is only way to go.
Timing can be off UP to 3 teeth....third tooth is game over.
The car will run with 2 up to 3 teeth off but it will run like crap....it would tend to stall and would have low power unless you floor it.
Fuel consumption would be horrible because of wrong timing....performance too.
I would first re-check the timing before proceeding to a next level of solving the problem.

[vovo850]

definitely low power, fuel seemed to get sucked up as well but ran and wasn't stalling until 4 days later and 50ish miles later.
I don't have the tools to set timing correctly. I was thinking about going to garage for that, now it will need towed if I do.
Hard to justify paying a garage but hard to justify buying tools I may only ever use once.
The IPD dial isn't expensive
but I think I will need the $$camshaft alignment tool$$ at the least.
Or do I need more than that at this point?
Know anyone selling the alignment tool cheaper than retail?

[Ozark Lee]

It sounds like you are unsure of the timing but it is certainly easy enough to check by lining up the marks to see where you are. Line up the crankshaft mark and then check the position of the camshaft marks. If they are off then you need to go through compressing the tensioner again and reinstalling the belt. You don't need the cam adjustment tool for the job, you can do it strictly by looking at the marks and just making sure that the belt is taught across the idler roller as it goes onto the intake cam. On a '95 you might have the single mark in the valley on the crankshaft sprocket rather than the two marks on adjacent peaks but you will know when you see it.

My rule of thumb is to look at the last thing I messed with for a problem that crops up after a repair.

The EGR flow, if it is clogged, won't really kill the performance.

...Lee

[vovo850]

I think I follow what you're saying about putting it in time,
Line the crankshaft up and than match the camshaft marks to the correct marking on the timing cover?
When we bumped the exhaust cam I did do this, but it obviously is off.
But we couldn't see the crankshaft line, I had marked the pully and that appeared on.
I will be going back thru all this.

[misha]

Put a strong light in there and you will see it.
No special tools for timing belt job on these cars are needed.
Cam locking tool isn't needed at all.

[Ozark Lee]

The marks are a bit tough to see. On your '95 it likely looks like this:

DSC02612.JPG (209.84 KiB) Viewed 1892 times

If you zoom in on the picture you can see the tiny notch at the rear of the sprocket.

But it may look like this:

On that style there are two tiny notches and the timing mark on the oil pump gets centered between the two marks.

...Lee

[vovo850]

Thanks those pictures help tremendously, wasn't sure what I was suppose to be seeing the first time around.

[bmdubya1198]

I agree, definitely check the alignment of the cams and crank. No need for any special tools.

What type of locking tool did you use before? The one that locks the cams from the rear? If you didn't remove the cam sprockets, just make sure everything is aligned from the front. Remove the belt and adjust as needed if one of the cams are out of alignment.

[vovo850]

It was a plastic rent a tool from a local auto parts store.
it locked up front