I just ran across this forum this last week. I am in the process of changing the clutch and pressure plate in my son's '97 legacy wagon with 110,000 miles on it. The dowel pins were seized and created quite a problem. I finally got the transmission and engine apart and found the clutch was saturated with oil from a leak in the plastic oil separator cover. We removed the flywheel and replaced this with a new aluminum cover and reinstalled the flywheel/new pressure plate & clutch/transmission. In the process we turned the engine to assist in the alignment of the transmission shaft. After this we reconnected all the electrical connectors and etc. and tried to start the engine. The engine ran extremely rough at a high idle and appeared to be very rich. It would stall when idling or accelerating above the high idle point. There no codes registering on the 5-10 minutes of run time.

 

 

Any thoughts on this problem? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The only thing that comes to mind would be that the timing belt may have jumped a tooth if you turned it in reverse. If this did happen, it would indicate to me that the tensioner may not be providing adequate tension, and should probably be replaced.

 

I'd look there, since it doesn't sound like you changed anything else that could have affected things.

nothing was touched...spark plug wires or anything? wires on the right cylinders? wires seated tight? would probably get a CEL if that was the problem though.

 

O2 sensors plugged in?

There is a hose on the air cleaner assembly that a number of folks have left off. I am sure you checked all the hoses and connections right?

Look closely for disconnected vacuum hoses. Easy to miss. I found two after having similar symptoms to yours. Found a third when the cruise control wouldn't work. All is now well.

 

Tom

I third the vacuum hose suggestion.

 

 

Another local user...welcome

Of course none of us ever left off that vacum hose ourselves.....

Thanks everyone for your help. I rechecked all the electrical connections and double checked the vacuum hoses. I found no problems so I hooked up a timing light and found it was 8-10 degrees out of time. I removed the timing belt covers and found it had jumped a tooth on the driver's side cam gear. I reset the belt and also found the tensioner was all the way to the driver's side in the slotted holes. This was my mistake when I replaced the timing belt a year ago when the keyway stripped out on the crankshaft and crankshaft pulley. I do not believe I had moved it all the way toward the idler pulley before releasing it.

 

Again, thanks for the help.

 

 

Ty