slipping timing belt?

[chuckl45]

How can you tell if the timing belt has slipped?
I have a '94 SHO, 3.0L Yamaha, 5-speed manual
A couple of days ago, all of a sudden and with NO warning, it started almost stalling at a stop. The RPM's would drop to around 500 or stall completely if I didn't give it any gas. I found a cable with a 6 inch tube on it, attached to the throttle had popped loose from the bracket. That seemed to fix it. I also found a broken vacuum hose.
Now, the idle varies between 800 and 1200. In 4th gear, doing 55 or so, it'll start bucking or lose power completely. It even backfired a couple of times.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'll try anything although the last vehicle I could successfully work on was a '72 Bronco.

 

[SHOslamwagon]

my car does a similar thing less your 4th gear issue, sometimes when it's warmed up and then off for about half an hour when i go to fire it back up again, it tries to idle at about 500 or less and ussually stalls out, i have to keep my foot on the gas abit and it figures itself out again, last time this happened i ended up replacing the intake (i had a spare, i think i really only needed to replace the IAC) and that fixed it, that was about 8 months ago.

 

[deercrusher]

You could have a plugged up catalytic converter. Does your car have a check engine light on?

 

[LOUDSHO92]

I would guess the IAC needs to be cleaned and checked and maybe replaced. The IAC can be checked with a 9V battery.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

I think IAC myself, also I'm sure that a timing belt can actually slip on these cars. Something pretty serious would have to happen first i bet. How long have you owned this car anyway? have you ever done the 60k maintenance yet?

 

[silver93sho]

I agree with the above about the IAC. Check your MAF too. My 93 would surge to 2k at start up and idle 400~1100. disconnect your MAF connector with the car running and see if the idle smooths out, if so your MAF is bad. worked for me.

 

[chuckl45]

I was thinking it might be a sensor problem. I had a '99 Explorer that had a few MAF problems. I've only had this car for a year and have barely put 10K on it. Supposedly, the previous owner did the 60K maintenance just before I bought it.
I'll check the IAC and the MAF as soon as I am able.
Thanks

 

[chuckl45]

To deercrusher....yes, the check engine light came on a couple of times and then went out. And, it has NO cat so, it can't be that.

 

[silver93sho]

To deercrusher....yes, the check engine light came on a couple of times and then went out. And, it has NO cat so, it can't be that.

Pull your codes...search on the forum on how to do that if u dont know. That will give you a good starting point!

 

[deercrusher]

like silver03sho said. Pull the engine codes - even when it's off - the code that caused it to come on will be stored for some time in the ecu. When you check the codes it will give you any current codes and then will give you the stored ones. That's your best starting point vs throwing parts at it until you guess the right one.

 

[chuckl45]

OK....checked the IAC. That appears to be fine. Pulled the MAF (I think...square black module, 4-pin connector, on top of air cleaner?) and found a small, fuzzy seed-like thing from the trees around here stuck on the electrodes. Blew it off and NOW it runs just fine. No hesitation, smooth idle, lots of power, secondaries kick in at about 3500 RPM, everything seems to be normal.
Could it have been something THAT simple?

 

[deercrusher]

yes - if there is ANYTHING on those wires in the maf it will run like crap. The maf on my wife's blazer was malfunctioning so I shot some brake cleaner in the maf and VERY gently cleaned the wires with a toothbrush. EVER SO GENTLY. It only takes a tiny bit of force and those wires will break. Good job figuring out your problem!