I had my timing belt changed at 90k miles. Also, changed all belts, hoses, oil,water pump. Now engine runs rough. The mechanic suggested I put in injector cleaner-might help. Does anyone have any ideas.
There should be no difference in engine operation after the correct installation of a timing belt. I suspect the timing belt was not correctly installed. If the rough running happened immediately after the timing belt installation there’s little else it could be.
Take it back. Fuel injector cleaner isn’t going to help.
I agree. It’s very easy to get the timing belt off a notch or two. Nothing will help the engine until the belt is reinstalled correctly. I would look for another mechanic since this is a no-brainer.
The above comments are pretty good advise. The belt must be off a notch or two.
First guess would be that the timing belt is off a notch – which is easy to do. On many cars, some stuff needs to be removed in order to get the timing belt covers off. It’s remotely possible that it wasn’t all put back properly. It’s also possible that a vacuum hose got knocked off. In any case, the mechanic should be trying to figure out what he did wrong, not selling you magic potions.
If you are lucky, the Check Engine light is now lit. If so, the code should point the mechanic in the right direction.
Go back to the mechanic. Tell him that his work was not quite right since the engine is worse than before. If he continues to say injector cleaner then send him a certified letter.
Really I mean it. A certified letter means that if this guy is a certified mechanic that you have a time stamp on what you said to him if it comes to court. If he thinks its a few hours of work for free to fix his error he might try to stiff you. If you push you are likely to win but need a new mechanic.
You gave him a bunch of money to do good work and now the car is worse. I am not saying sue him. I am saying give him a few legal knuckles to think about.
Let me guess: An independent mechanic has struck again. As was said, the most likely reason is defective cam belt timing. For the mechanic to suggest injector cleaner after he/she worked on the timing belt seems ludicrous.
I’m having the same issue my car ran fine before I got someone to install everything that comes in a timing belt kit and now it’s idling rough and vibrates bad and loss of power funny how the guy also told me to put something in my gas to fix the idle I’m a female and I know that isn’t gonna fix it
Hi Alyssa:
It does sound like the new belt was installed incorrectly.
Can you describe:
- The car make, model, engine, year, and mileage?
- The last time the belt was replaced?
- The kind of place or person who replaced the belt? E.g. was it a garage, dealer, or friend? If the latter, what is that person’s experience?
Thank you.