Re: Timing belt tensioner question...

[Jim Griffin <JGriff@pobox.com>]

At 10:25 AM 7/28/98 -0400, pollock@leia.eng.pko.dec.com wrote:

>My question is, under very slight acceleration, the car seems to have a
hesitation. At idle it's smooth as silk and if you get on it, the car is
>again smooth. Is there anyway that I can be feeling a bad belt tensioner ?

Highly doubt it. I would check the spark plug wires... I had a similar
experience in my '92 100S, at about 60k miles... and it turned out to be
one bad plug wire. It was replaced, and the problem was gone. A year
later... at about 80k miles, the other five plug wires went bad. I replaced
the whole set, and the problem disappeared. (The cheapest place to get
wires is from Pep Boys, believe it or not. KoolWires, made by Borg Warner,
with OEM ends on them, were only $149 for the set. Got them via
special-order in two days. This was a lot faster, and a bit cheaper, than
Blaufergnugen, who gave me a big runaround for six weeks for the SAME...
and I mean identical... set of wires. Need I say more that I have a thing
against Blau??)

The other thing to consider is the oxygen sensor(s). There are two of them
on the V-6... and they are expensive. You might want to try the plug wires
first, then the oxy sensors. (That's what I did.). You can (have them) test
the wires for resistance, and look for cracks... and as well, (have them)
test the oxy sensors to see if they are bad. My guess is that your
driveability problem is either one of these... wires or oxy sensors. Of
course, that's just my humble opinion..... usual disclaimers... YMMV...
etc... etc.. etc...

>My wife thinks I'm crazy, (it's her car) she can't feel it and thinks I'm
just looking for an excuse to do something to the car...  First thing I'm
>gonna do is look to see what kind of a 60k service job the dealer did, but
it sure does feel like a timing problem to me.

A bad plug wire or a bad oxy sensor will sorta' show itself as a "miss" of
sorts... like a timing problem, to some degree. So, as mentioned above...
I'd recommend having both checked out.

Good luck.
 
       
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      Jim Griffin
JGriff@pobox.com
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