anyone know about timing on a 1997 ranger w/ a 2.3. there are 2 timing marks on the cam gear and 2 on the dist. gear how do they line up? also where does the crank get set?

 

The link for 2.3 timing in the Ranger form's Tech Info thread isn't working right now. I sent Ken00 a message about it.
I just looked in the Haynes manual & it's reasonably clear.
There's one timing mark on the crank, one on the cam & one on the oil pump.
The crank should be @ TDC (the crankshaft sprocket keyway should be @ 12 o'clock).
The cam sprocket mark should align with the pointer on the inner timing belt cover. The oil pump has a similar pointer on the inner cover to line it up.
There's alot of info not printed in the Haynes manuals, but you should pick one up anyways. It'll pay for itself the first time you use it.
AL.

 

I agree. Do not attempt it if you do not have instructions of some kind in front of you.

 

I am wondering the same thing. There appears to be 2 timing marks on both the camshaft and the oil pump sprocket inner guide. From what I can tell there is two timing marks on each one. Is this correct? What would happen if the oil pump sprocket was aligned with the wrong mark?

 

It will not run.

 

I just changed my timing belt last weekend. What I did was remove spark plug #1 and turned the crankshaft clockwise. When air started blowing out of the hole that was the compression stroke needed.

If you look on the plates (belt retainer) behind the cam & oil pump sprckets there will be little triangles. The triangles of both the cam and oil pump pulleys must be straight up as is the keyway of the crankshaft.

You can now remove the belt, fix oil seals or whatever, and then reinstall a new one. A simple trick that makes it easier is to loosen both the adjusting nut and the spring nut on the belt tensioner slightly and then retighten the adjusting nut only while the tensioner is retracted. This will allow you to get the belt on very easy.

If you have any more questions, feel free.



Allen

 

Thanks Hardwareman

I checked my timing marks when I got home from work. I had done a timing belt last weekend and now had a very rough idle. I have been working on a problem with the truck since I got it a couple of weeks ago and have been doing all the maintenance that had been ignored. The cam was using the little triangle to align to the mark on the inner cover just like it should be. The one for the oil pump sprocket was using the triangle, not the diamond. Once I changed it to the triangle and put everything back together and fired it up, nice smooth idle! Now if I can just find what is causing the jerking and bucking when driving I will be happy.

 

Here is a thread on timing a 2.3L. Keep in mind that on earlier vehicles with a distributor that the auxillary shaft position isn't overly important. As long as the rotor points to the #1 terminal in the cap when the belt is installed, the timing should be close enough for the engine to fire.

http://svoca.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1959

There are some good illustrations on the 2nd and 3rd pages of the thread. The string method works quite well for timing the motor, especially if the plastic pointer is busted.

 

Thanks Bart99GT.

This is a 96 2.3L in a Ranger. From what I can tell there is a sensor for timing on the oil pump sprocket. I think the camshaft sensor on my motor is there instead of on the camshaft sprocket. Once I changed the marks to the correct one, the engine idles right with a nice steady idle and no more stalling so far. It ran with the wrong mark, but would want to stall. I am going to run it for a couple hundred miles to get the sensors relearned and then see what it is doing. After I put it together with the wrong marks, it started off with an idle that was marginal and then slowly got worse, until it wanted to stall at almost every light. The bucking and jerking started after replacing the plugs and wires, although it had a shake to it before that. I replaced the new wires with another brand and it improved the bucking and jerking, not near as violent as when it started. After I fixed the timing last night the bucking is still there, but not nearly as violent and it does not try to stall when it does this when pulling out from a light. The truck has a lot of miles 156K, but the motor does not appear to burn much oil. Think it will be a decent little truck if I get it running right.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

some pictures for reference 🔷
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