I just replaced my timing belt and now it starts really rough. It hesitates a little then cranks up. It took us several hours to get it to start. A friend and myself replaced the belt. We tried lining up the marks every which way and finally got the right combination. I am just hoping nothing is messed up, valves or whatever else could have been damaged. Does anyone have any idea what might be giving it a rough start? Could it be a bad spark plug? Any ideas? please let me know..

--JMasters

 

Look under the maintenance forum. We had a long thread 4~6 weeks back on a DIY belt replacement which went bad.

Salim

 

Does your engine have vvti? if yes, it is most likely an interference engine, which you might have damaged the valves/cylinder walls/pistons upon contact.