salinity

I replaced my water pump today (95 xj 2.5L). In the course of putting my serpentine belt back on, I ended up rotating my crankshaft pulley a bit (due to a shorter-than normal belt tensioner bolt on the PS pump, I was forced to rotate the water pump pulley to get a snug but not tight belt on similar to how you put a bike chain back on when it slips off). I didn't anticipate the crankshaft pulley rotating, but, alas, it did (probably 1/4 turn). I tried rotating it back to roughly where I thought it started, but it's only an estimate.

I assume I disrupted the timing? If so, and if it's disrupted I assume I'll get a misfire and/or rough idle? How do I correct this? Can I walk the crankshaft pulley back in small increments on a trial-and-error basis until I get smooth operation?

I'm waiting for the RTV to set, so I'm not going to fill it with coolant and try starting it until tomorrow morning (even though I'm chomping at the bit to try it now). Thanks for any help!

Bugout4x4

I would think that if all you had apart was the water pump, you are good... It's when you have the distributor assembly out you have to worry.

Was the distributor out too? If not, you should good to go.

Tbone289

You haven't affected the timing, you've just rotated the crank. The water pump isn't timed with the crank.

salinity

Wow, would that be a relief. No, the distributor wasn't out - basically I just rotated the engine (accidentally) by hand after the pump was installed. I recall warnings about rotating the crank when removing the pulley when I replaced my harmonic balancer, so I figured I screwed something up.

Timing is definitely one of the parts of engine operation I could stand to learn a bit more about. I suppose I was thinking if it was rotated by hand without the ignition system "engaged" the distributor would somehow get out of whack with the compression. Thanks!

salinity

Thanks - yeah, I know the WP isn't timed, but I thought I may have disrupted some sort of timing between the distributor and crank / compression (as stated in my above reply, I need to brush up on my timing knowledge). Cheers!

Bugout4x4

If you ever have to pull the distributor you may want to drop in here and ask these guys what to do BEFORE you pull it. What you do before is more important than what you do later to make sure it is back in right. And I found owning a long large flathead screwdriver is my best friend putting one back.

salinity

Roger that - likely in my future as I broke one of the screws that holds the dust cap on when I changed the cap & rotor this summer (it's currently held down by a series of wire and hose lamps - solid, but ugly).

Bugout4x4

By "Dust Cap" do you mean the distribution cap it's self that the plug wires come out of? If so then if it ever starts missing on a cylinder or two you don't need to ask what might be causing it... lol

Pretty self explanatory at that point, but I guess we have to do what we need to do to keep them running sometimes.

Reminds me of the time my friends and I were out 40 miles from civilization and tried to use beer and urine to refill a radiator in order to get out. Nope... It was a long walk out because both beer and urine FOAM on the cylinder walls in the block. lol

It was a very labor intensive experience that has never again been repeated.