I had very poor engine power and was getting hotter than usual since my timing belt was replaced. Vacuum was at 16 and jittery at idle. Replaced all engine mounts and transmission mount. My distributor was almost at the end of travel to get it to 10 degrees spec. So I loosened the timing belt and moved the cam Sprocket 1 tooth. My vacuum now at 20 and steady and my distributor is now adjusted in the middle of travel at 10 degrees spec. Engine has a lot more power. The drawback is that my engine always had a vibration at idle in Park or drive. Reverse and drive doesn’t make a difference. More intense with ac on. Even a little off idle it vibrates. But since I reposition the timing belt the vibration is a lot more intense. Could a harmonic balancer be the trouble or is there some other cause for the bad vibration? It even intensified with alternator load like using turn signals or lights

 

Did you set the timing by jumping TE1 and E1?

The balancer is two pieces separated by rubber. Has happened the rubber degrades and piece separates/rotates.

You checked ign parts?

What is the idle RPM? The engine will shake more the lower the RPM.

 

Yeah I jumped the terminals and has new plugs, distributor cap , rotor, wires and plugs. I had to set the idle a little high because in drive the vibration is very bad if the idle is in spec. It idles at 1200 rpm in park and 700 in drive. I don’t know if this is related but my engine temperature gets a little over 3/4 on the gauge when ambient air is hot outside and ac is on. Have to crack open the heater slightly then the temperature gauge quickly goes back to normal. The radiator, thermostat and coolant are all new and both fans are on with ac on. Condenser is clean and I could feel the air flow through the condenser when fans are on. There has to be heat dissipation problem somehow

 

Make sure the radiator fans are turning on when the temp gauge starts to rise. Temp gauge should remain steady once engine warmed up. The radiator fans help keep the temp steady.

 

I could hear them come on when I park the car and the temperature gauge is half way unless there’s a problem when the car is at highway speed. I live in a mountainous area so it usually happens going up a long incline and the engine is under a load for a bit. Even putting the automatic transmission in a lower gear doesn’t make a difference with the temperature on an incline but if I just crack open the heater control just a little it cools down immediately. I’m wondering if there’s a restriction in the radiator hoses. Like if the inner liner is torn and blocking the flow a little. They look original with original clamps and the upper hose is kind of hard to squeeze when I checked it out last week