I have tried to help a friend put his 899cc back on the road, all mot’d and legal now but it was running a bit lumpy.

Followed the guide here about resetting the ECU and this seemed to do the trick, next thing as the car had been parked the ongoing problems have started, the alternator was only giving out 11.3 volts, took this off cleaned it and all the earth connections on the car, this is now running at 13.9 volts which means he will not have to call me out to jump start again!

The problem I now have is I put the old fan belt on and as I half expected it failed as soon as it had been tensioned, I would normally have changed this but my friend isn’t working at the moment so trying to keep costs down,

Bought a new one and had fun and games fitting this as I have never done one before, I started by feeling my way back and found the sensor and cable, I disconnected the cable because I thought I would be able to drop the belt over, I then realised I would have to take the wheel off to do this job correctly.

With the wheel off the screws holding the sensor would not move, I rotated the bottom pulley until I had the gap under the sensor, I could then work the belt in. I put it all back together, cleaned the plug for the sensor with electrical contact cleaner and plugged back together.

Now……. The car that was running fine will not start and it shows all of the indications of the timing being out, does disconnecting the timing sensor cause it to forget its settings, or has forcing the belt under the sensor caused a problem by moving it slightly (there is no damage to the sensor) or do I need to reset the ECU, is there a way of checking the crank case/timing sensor? Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks

by the belt im guessing either the alternator or the water pump as the 899 is chain driven , check that you haven't moved the sensor back so its unable to pick up a signal

you didnt for it back did you as the signal is done by magnet in the sensor

Ash

Coming here first might have saved you this bother.

The crank sensor is fairly fragile, you should have removed the crank pulley to change the belt, rather than try and move the sensor.

The sensor needs to be, I think, 1.5mm from the toothed wheel.

Cheers

D

I'd say if the sensor is in place and bolted it and it causing trouble starting. Then i would replace the sensor.

But make sure the gap between the sensor and the pulley is clean.

Have you taken off the crank pulley at all ?

Ming

Hi, I couldnt get the sensor screws undone with the tools I had to hand nor could I undo the single rusty bottom pulley bolt holding the bottom pulley on, when I go back to try and fix it I will take the right tools with me.

As the car was running fine before I changed the alternator belt then I must have pushed the timing out by forcing the belt in, I will check the measurements that you have given me.

Is there a test I can run on the sensor to check it is working?

Thank you for the pointers so far.

Badback said:

Is there a test I can run on the sensor to check it is working?

Thank you for the pointers so far.

Click to expand...

Only if you have an ocilliscope in your tool box.

However, a complete lack of spark would be a big hint.

Cheers

D

rallycinq said:

Only if you have an ocilliscope in your tool box.

However, a complete lack of spark would be a big hint.

Cheers

D

Click to expand...

Mine always fail intermittently... run like good one while they are working just wont start when they don't feel like it.

Noel

Hi,

I would just like to thank everyone who took the time to answer my post, you have saved me a lot of grief and rainbow chasing! I fixed my friends car yesterday with your advise, I cleaned all the rust from the crank pully, cleaned all the oil and grease from the crank sensor and managed to get it back into a position about 1.5mm from the pulley. It started first time and is running better than before!!!!!!!

Once again thank for your time and knowledge )