Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

I own a 1997 Dodge Dakota with 170,000+ miles and a 3.9l V6 that needed a timing chain. I am a long term customer of a local general mechanic that I trust for general repairs but not so much diagnostics or electrics so I ordered the parts from Rockauto and left the truck with him. Now with the chain and a new water pump installed I'm about 95% sure the cam is considerably advanced; it drives OK at street speeds but doesn't want to pull long hills and will barely get to 3000 RPM. What is reasonable to ask for in getting it correct?

- I provided the hard parts, he provided labor, coolant, oil change, maybe hose clamps.

- The new timing set was Melling with a chain tensioner, he said the original had no tensioner but the block was tapped to accept the tensioner. Could there be two versions of the timing set with different index marks?

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 03&jsn=487

- I drove it more than a week before I realized how gutless it was. A few days after picking it up I visited the shop on other business and he asked if it was running OK; now I notice that some radio pre-sets are changed so I suspect he drove it MORE than around the block and I'm guessing he was hoping I would accept it as-is.

- I left a note saying that the AC could be discharged and the condenser removed because the AC needs repair anyway. It's obvious that he did not do that, therefore he could never have had a good view of the timing set in the engine.

So how would you proceed?

Nefario,
That engine appears to have both a camshaft position sensor and a camshaft position sensor. If that is the case any decent shop with an oscilloscope should be able to hook it up and tell you very easily if the cam is in time. That would be my first step.

As a 20 yr Chrysler tech from another lifetime,the sync signal has to be reset between the cam and crank sensor,you need a scanner to do such. Also you need to reset the parameters .
The vehicle is compensating for changes as the timing is changed from the timing chain slowly wearing out,then a repair is made.
You have to tell the computer,it doesn't think that quickly.
Just disconnecting the battery doesn't reset the parameters.
As long as the vehicle runs and doesn't leak,the tech probly did his job correctly. He just left out a important step.

Dutchman wrote: ↑Wed Sep 26, 2018 6:32 am ....the sync signal has to be reset between the cam and crank sensor,you need a scanner to do such. Also you need to reset the parameters

Thanks to both of you; I'm now reading about nearly the same symptoms and the fix on a Dodge truck forum. I doubt if my guy has a scanner but I will refer him to this discussion. He's kinda stuck in the 1980's and helps a lot of people keep older cars running. Assuming the chain is correct, could a Dodge tech simply plug in and reset the system?

Nefario wrote: ↑Wed Sep 26, 2018 11:20 am

Dutchman wrote: ↑Wed Sep 26, 2018 6:32 am ....the sync signal has to be reset between the cam and crank sensor,you need a scanner to do such. Also you need to reset the parameters

Thanks to both of you; I'm now reading about nearly the same symptoms and the fix on a Dodge truck forum. I doubt if my guy has a scanner but I will refer him to this discussion. He's kinda stuck in the 1980's and helps a lot of people keep older cars running. Assuming the chain is correct, could a Dodge tech simply plug in and reset the system?

Yes you could if the scanner has that software. Not all aftermarket scanners have those channels.

Just curious what ended up with this ? Di you get it figured out ?

Would it throw a code if it wasn't synced up?

Surprisingly he had a pretty impressive Matco scanner with a Bluetooth harness connector. He say he started to use it and got a warning that the software was out of date (or broken?) and had to return to the tool truck for repair. Also he read the manual and agreed that the truck requires a software reset. Still waiting - truck was parked behind shop for a week and now has moved to front - I will check back shortly.