My 2004 Stratus 2.4L non-turbo may have a timing belt that skipped a tooth.

Story.
Rat crawled under hood during the day sometime.
Started car and rat got tangled up in the serpentine belts.
Broke them both, rat cut cut in half.

Shut off the engine upon smelling burnt rubber.
It was still idleing.

Now, replaced both serpentine belts but will not start.
Code stored was P0300.
Cleared that but still no start.

The coil pack gets a signal to fire once then no signal.
This repeats each time trying to start.
One plug will fire then nothing.

So, I plan on removing the timing cover and getting a look at the crank.
The two cam pulleys are still aligned correctly, but I cannot tell where TDC is without pulling a buch of parts. Both cams turn when cranking over. No loud banging noises.

Anyone else had timing belt off by one tooth?

 

Well, got the harmonic balance and belt cover off and sure enough, the belt skipped about three teeth. Oddly, the belt doesn't show any major damage

Getting the motor mount off was more of a pain than the Dodge Neon I did. Heater core tubing runs right over top of it, air condition hoses had to be moved too.

Going to need a new bottom outer cover, might as well do the water pump too.

 

Yes, may as well buy the kit with the belt, pump and tensioner since it is all accessible right now, you dont really want to change the pump again in the next few months lol. Its a pain to work on because space is limited and you will likely need to move the engine up and down several times before you are done. I had one timing belt slip a few notches every so often on a mid 80's 2.2L, a mechanic told me it was impossible...that kind of stuff just doesnt happen lol. I got to the point where I could do it in about 30-40 minutes.