FACT OR FICTION??????? 2002 3.5L DOC with less than 51,000 miles that ran very strong. The engine was non problematic until recently. The water pump started to leak with the change of colder weather. So I brought it to a repair shop and the water pump and timing kit were replaced. Quality parts were installed. A short time later (about 250 miles) The check engine light with DTC P0016 ( Crankshaft/camshaft timing misalignment/ out of synchronize) appeared. The engine would idle just fine, but during acceleration the engine would run badly. I brought it back to the repair shop about 3 weeks after the work was done, only driving it very little after the diagnostic trouble code had appeared.... I believed that the belt tensioner was possibly defective OR something wasn't tightened properly. I was told that a rear (inner) timing cover bolt broke off by itself. The shop claims to have never touched or torqued that bolt although it is about 4 inches away from the water pump bolts. The bolt had broken off by some mystery and made the timing jump, I am told by the repair shop! Now it appears to me a mystery that this bolt would snap off all by itself after nearly 51,000 miles and this work was recently done by the repair shop!!! The bolt is steel and the timing cover housing is aluminum as well as the engine block that it is bolted to. Has anyone ever heard of this happening??? Have I been fandangled???

 

I would call B S on this one. Sounds like the tensioner bolt has been broken. Having worked on many many 3.5's and active on 4 forums dealing with LH cars, this is the first time one has mysteriously snapped on its own.......
More than one person has miss installed or stripped that bolt.