This 2001 Sebring has run well until one day it started making a weird noise. My friend had it towed to a local garage where they changed the timing belt/waterpump. They said that was the issue. After he got it back the car idled funny. Dropping from around 1k down to 500 RPM and then back. When driving the car will sometimes stall. He gave the car to me to fix because I do some car work but this one has me puzzled.

The exhaust has a hole in it so I am pretty sure the code for the O2 sensor is likely because of that (or just needing an O2). Here is the list of codes I am getting:


P0141
P1400
P0340
P0335
P0171

I know what the codes are, but I am hoping I am missing something simple. I looked over the engine and nothing seems to be unplugged, but that's what I have to assume considering this happened after a timing belt install. Any help would be great.

 

What engine are we talking about here?

I would suspect either something is not plugged in tightly or a pair of plugs is mixed up.

I'd look for a vacuum leak.

You're probably right about the leaking exhaust.

Why isn't the original shop taking care of the mess they made?

 

Sorry its the 3.0 engine.

The original shop isn't doing it because its been over a year and I am a different owner. Any chance timing being off by one tooth would cause this?

 

Search the forum here and you'll find that with that engine, the distributor (which contains the cam position sensor) is a notorious source of trouble. As for the timing being off, if you are asking whether those symptoms are a way to determine whether the timing is off, I have no idea, but I doubt it. If your question is "the timing is off, would it explain those symptoms?", the answer would be: first get the timing right.

I'd still check those other things, including the vacuum leak.

 

Makes sense. The timing belt is a real pain to get to, so would I be better to play with the distributor first and see if that is the problem? Could that cause a bad idle?

 

You might consider roaming any Mitsibishi boards you can find. Your coupe was built by Mitsubishi. It's basically the same car as the Eclipse. Chances are the problems might be discussed over there.
There's not much "playing with the distributor" to be done. You either replace it or leave it alone. And aftermarket distributors can cause more problems.