emission fail do to timing 180 degrees off

[clarkflower]

I took my 100k 1.8L Kia Sephia in for my Ca emissions test.
I passed emissions but failed as they said my timing was ?about 180 off

The inspector said the harmonic balancer could have cracked and slipped or maybe someone did a timing belt and put it on 180 off.

Any thoughts on this ?

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: clarkflower
I took my 100k 1.8L Kia Sephia in for my Ca emissions test.
I passed emissions but failed as they said my timing was ?about 180 off

The inspector said the harmonic balancer could have cracked and slipped or maybe someone did a timing belt and put it on 180 off.

Any thoughts on this ?


Cam timing is 180 degrees off. Wow. And it runs. Unreal.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

I passed emissions but failed


What does that mean?

Quote:

Any thoughts on this ?


A lot of people say "Hey, don't quit your day job"; in this case, he should?

 

[RiceCake]

Timing 180 degrees off...

...Don't think the engine would ever run like that. If it does somehow, I'm impressed.

 

[The_Jeff]

Maybe the tech did something wrong, put the pickup on the wrong plug wire, it was picking up a waste spark instead of the "real" one, etc.

kinda goofy to check timing on a modern car anyway, but that's state bureacuracy for you.

 

[fxrider]

go somewhere else .. that guy needs to go back to school.

 

[ls1mike]

It would not run.

 

[clarkflower]

Originally Posted By: eljefino

kinda goofy to check timing on a modern car anyway, but that's state bureacuracy for you.


No kidding. I thought the point was clean air (and I was fine there) not great timing

In any case from what little I read these harmonic balanceer do go bad

 

[ls1mike]

What year is it?

 

[clarkflower]

Its a 1997 Mike

 

[yonyon]

Wait....

Cam speed is half of crank speed, so if the cam is 180 degrees off then that's the same as having the crank 360 degrees off. 360 degrees puts it in the same position as zero degrees which would be dead-on. If that's so, then 180 off is correct.

What am I missing here?

 

[clarkflower]

Originally Posted By: yonyon
Wait....

Cam speed is half of crank speed, so if the cam is 180 degrees off then that's the same as having the crank 360 degrees off. 360 degrees puts it in the same position as zero degrees which would be dead-on. If that's so, then 180 off is correct.

What am I missing here?
\
I'm out of my area here but if this helps he said the timing mark is on the bottom as opposed to being on the top looking down

 

[yonyon]

That's easy enough to fix. Get little stick-on number labels and put them on the valve cover to indicate which cylinder number is which. Instead of numbering them correctly, with 1 as the cylinder closest to the belts, put them on backwards with 4 being the closest to the belts. Problem solved.

Edit:
If he complains about the engine being installed backwards, demand that he put that in writing.

 

[tinmanSC]

Unpossible! Timing cannot be 180 off and still run, however if the pulley or cog was put on upside down (I guess it could happen in some cars?) then that would result in the timing mark being 180 off, but it would just be the mark, not the timing. Hard to believe you would fail for that, and how would they know unless they did quite a detailed inspection? This seems exceptionally strange.

 

[Chris142]

It passed the Sniffer but failed the visual

 

[clarkflower]

Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
Unpossible! Timing cannot be 180 off and still run, however if the pulley or cog was put on upside down (I guess it could happen in some cars?) then that would result in the timing mark being 180 off, but it would just be the mark, not the timing. Hard to believe you would fail for that, and how would they know unless they did quite a detailed inspection? This seems exceptionally strange.

It's sort of frustrating. I was listening to two mechanics talk about a friend and they say he gets points to fail people so the more he fails the better his state report.
Also as the inspection stations are also shops, why not find a problem and make money?
They create a system where it pays them to fail you

 

[user52165]

Could you possibly post your test results? Block out any personal info or anything else not pertinent.

I assume this was not a Test Only station?

 

[clarkflower]

Originally Posted By: user52165
Could you possibly post your test results? Block out any personal info or anything else not pertinent.


I could but I have not figured out how to upload a picture here.
Is there a specific number you want?

 

[EricF]

Is there something on the emissions sticker that says you have to like unplug a wire or jumper something to read engine timing?
Aside from it saying timing is computer controlled and NOT adjustable, although we know it kinda is..

 

[The_Jeff]

Back in the 1970s to early 80s you could dink around with your car, set the idle high, retard the timing, etc to make it pass the tailpipe sniffer so they said "enough" and make the cars pass all this (now) stupid, redundant stuff that OBD-II would complain about.