I have a 1999 eclipse with the 2.0 four cylinder. car has over 80,000 miles. I changed the timing belt and now can't keep the car running. I aligned the cam and crank, reassembled the car and it ran great for about 3 miles ,,, then it starts chugging and clattering ,,, no power. go back into timing cover and timing marks are out of alignment. re-align ,, re-assemble ,, and same result. runs fine at first ,, but soon starts running poorlyand thenhardly runs at all. dis-assemble to find timing marks out of alignment again. What am doing wrong? Is there a certain step or procedure i am missing?

 

Is it tight? Maybe the tensioner is bad?

 

tensioner seems good ,,, belt is tight.
If I align the marks and manually turn the engine until no.1 cylinder comes back to TDC,,
timing marks are out of alignment.

 

the timing is obviously off. or you managed to bend a valve during the installation process.

im assuming you're talking about the turbo engine?

 

nonturbo (420A I think)

I've been told that it's the 2.0 non-turbo with 205hp. I don't know if that's true or not. (Anniversary OZ sports packageversion).

 

you must be aligning them wrong. How are you aligning them?

 

yes, you have the timing off. it IS an interference engine, so lets hope you havent damaged valves or pistons.
and the 420a engine produces 140 HP.

 

Oh man...

When you did the belt, did you change the timing belt Tensioner and idler pulleys?
I had a co worker with a 420A who did'nt and had the same issue, it kept jumping time by one or 2 teeth, then the old tensioner exploded and destroyed the head.
If its not too late, I would change the idler and tensioner, check the valves, and go from there.

 

Is it posible to check if a valve is bent or broken with a vacuum gauge in those few seconds of the engine running? thatd help determine the problem if possible

 

Like Josh said, I still think its the tensioner. The OZ anniversary edition, came with a 420a w/ 140hp as Manybrews said... its really a GS with a Sticker and wheel pkg.