It was time to replace the timing belt on my 1998 Ranger 2.5 4 cyl. it was running rough and back firing. when the harmonic balancer was removed the aluminum sprocket on the back had some teeth that had broken off. A used balancer was purchased the timing belt was replaced. Engine still runs rough and engine code " camshaft sensor". Long story short: crankshaft sensor, camshaft sensor,another balancer (guaranteed to be correct),and ecm were replaced with no improvements. I re-checked all the timing marks they are spot on. Any ideas?

 

Ignition. Check for a fouled plug(s), bad plug wires, and ignition coil pack.

 

Would this give me a camshaft sensor code?

 

No. Do you still have the CEL code for camshaft sensor, after replacing it? Did you clear the code(s) after the work performed?

 

I'm not familiar with the CEL code? What is that? Yes we did clear the code after the sensor install.

 

CEL - Check Engine Light. This comes on in the cluster whenever you have a trouble code stored in the ECU/ECM (engine control unit/engine control management (brain box)).

So, no codes stored. None of the repairs you made did any improvement over the running rough and backfiring?

 

The camshaft sensor code came back on after a while, but it continued to run rough.
It idles after a couple of minutes , but may backfire before it picks up revs.

 

I just want to verify that when the crankshaft key way is pointing up and the crankshaft mark to the right of the key way lines up with the mark on the block this is tdc, is there any way this could be off? Is it possible for these marks to be tdc for the exhaust cycle vs the compression cycle? The camshaft marks and oil pump marks are all in synch with the crankshaft marks.

 

Either the cam or crank timing is off, did it run fine before the new belt