'98 2.0 won't start

[vince]

The car died on the road,towed it to my friend's garage, hooked it up to his diagnostic machine and that gave me a code, P1838 which I found out, Thanks to this great forum I have just Joined, that the problem is the camshaft sensor.

In the pursuit of fixing the problem we were checking the timing and we noticed on the crackshaft pully there is no mark to check against the oil pan. We have the right manul and we are winging it with the wrong hayens manual.

I'm looking for a little help, ok a lot of help. Thanks

 

[vince]

Please help.

 

[Dec1000]

There is no adjustment for timing on the 98 Zetec.

 

[Dec1000]

You have to get it to TDC and align your cams and set tensioner.

 

[vince]

how do i get to TDC

 

[Dec1000]

Remove the number one plug and you can stick a screwdriver down in the cylinder and turn the crank by hand until the piston gets to highest point. Are you sure that is the right code?

 

[Dec1000]

The codes I am seeing online are, P1838 Transmission Transfer Case Shift Motor Circuit Failure

 

[vince]

Code P1383 indicates the cam is too far retarded during its “at-rest” position. The majority of the time when we see this code, it has set because the timing belt was installed incorrectly. Be sure to check the basics ... make sure the cams and crankshaft are in time.

I got this from an ASE certified Ford analist

 

[vince]

sorry gave wrong code it's 1383

 

[Dec1000]

Have you did a timing belt on the car?

 

[vince]

it was done before I bougt the car, I just bought it 3 weeks ago

 

[Dec1000]

Here is a link that deals with that code. http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/july2002/techtips.cfm
Pull the covers off and take a look at the belt. That code usually means the timing is off. With the VCT solenoid that is on the 98 Zetec, the timing has to be perfect.

 

[vince]

That will help thanks Dec1000

 

[hectik1]

Timing belt done 3 weeks before you bought the car?

Sounds like the timing belt is completely off or jumped a few teeth.

 

[95merc-mystique]

Just in case you are looking at the wrong marks, I'll say this. On my pulley the marks that are for TDC alignment are really small. They look like scrapes on the side of the accessory pulley. There are dots on the face, but you have to ignore those. The correct marks should look like a little nick, it looks like a file mark on the outermost part of the pulley. The timing mark should be visible on the outside face, at the edge of the pulley. I thought my pulley didn't have the right mark either, but it turns out I was just looking for the wrong thing.