I recently had my car sericed. Since then it feels like it has lost a lot of power.
When I went back, they said they would adjust the timing a bit.
This did not help.
The exhaust burns pitch black, and the car smells of petrol after a harder than normal drive, so the mixture is a bit rich I presume.

Cars and PC's have a lot in comon I think, in the sense that if you want something done right, do it yourself.

Does anyone know any web resources that can help me to understand how to fix the problems I am having?
I also have no tools, so some suggestions in that regard would also be nice.

1300 Tazz, sounds more like they messed with the mixture on the carb,
got to go now , more tomorow

I also paid quite a lot becase the cam belt was mis aligned I think by 2 teeth or something. Which was bad. I cant remember why it was bad, but it was bad for some reason. Fuel economy and loss of power I think.

All of the above is what they told me. I am a |\|008

You paid extra for some grease monkey to set the cam belt properly...?

The exhaust is pitch black... the car smells of petrol... and you think it's burning rich?

Dude, take this car back with the receipt and get these guys to service it properly!

They are ripping you off.

How does the car idle? Just for interests sake?

It idles fine.
Not very fast, but I would say fine. I cant tell you exact RPM as the Tazz has no rev meter. :-(
I would say just between 500 and 1000 Rpm.

I have a timing light, an engine dwell meter and rev counter and some carburettor knowledge...

Sounds like its running rich.
When you pull-off doe sit make a "pinging" sound??

Nope, no pinging sound that I can hear. Will listen more attentively next time.

In low RPM, I get the same accel if I pres the gas pedal half way or all the way. Dont know if this helps.

Before the service, when I give a bit of gas, and then suddenly all the way, the car would stutter once, and then go. Now it doesnt stutter.... or go.

Sounds like they corrected a flat-spot by enriching the mixture and advancing timing a bit..

Couldd just be carb related though.

Somewhere on the carb, there will ba a small screw, farly low down, an din the body of the carb itself protruding into the Venturi (Big hole that air gets sucked through)
That'll likely be the Idle Air Mixture Control screw.

Play with that a bit, I think its an Air screw depending on the carb, so screw it ANTI-Clockwise...

Right, so now I have to go find my carb. :-p

Just out of interest, how easy is this to screw up totally?

Worst you can do is stall the car and it may not start again.
I fyou feel its going to stall, simply turn that screw back to where it was..

Timing is a little more difficult though, as you need to move the distributor and use a timing light in conjunction with a mark on the fan-belt pulley on the crankshaft...

Thanks for all the replies.

I will try and see how far I get with the carb, but definitely leave the timing for someone else.

No prob.
Lemme know how it goes...

If you need help I can have a look at it this week end mate.

PM me for contact details.

I took my car in this weekend. I saw on the receipt that it had in fact been more than 3 months since the service!

Luckily the guy remembered me and worked on it without even asking for the receipt.

The % something in the CO2 was 0.4, where it should be between 1 and 1.5.
The car now runs much better. I am not sure if it runs as it should, but I think so.

There is no way I would have been able to adjust it correctly without the tools they used.

If the CO was incorrect, they corrected the mixture on the carb.

Sigh....
:sigh:

I am not so sure they fixed the problem....

I played with the carb a bit this weekend, and turning the mentioned screw about half a rotation in either direction did not produce any results.

My milage is around 11.2Km / L. This was around 480km, including around 150 km highway driving. My friend with a 2.0L Ford Focus gets 10.2 for the same kind of driving, driving the same road to work, with the same traffic densities.

I have a car with a small engine with none of the small-engine perks

I decided to take the car to a Toyota garage and see if they can figure it out.

That be a fine decision

yeah. get the toyota approved service. There is also a guy in Boksburg who specializes in Toyotas.

Boksburg > *

His name Izza by any chance? I remem my parents going to him, he was champion

Uhm, right. Took my car to the Toyota service centre today. I paid R395 for major service for my R1300 Tazz at the no-name place.

Look at the pricing board, I see it would have cost me R1750 at the Toyota garage....

I'm waiting to hear what the damage will be.....

a service at Toyota wouldn't cost me that much on my car. That sounds a bit steep. Sure if they are changing discs and pads, it will cost more, but the normal service shouldn't cost R1700 +

Thats what it said on the board.

Adjusting the cam belt, engine timing and CO cost me R360....

Steep, but not crazy...

I think its better, but will probably need to drive for a week or so to be sure.

well I hope that it is sorted out. let us know in a week or so. I am sure that Toyota service is meant to be around R700... /me wonders...

The minor service is around R750.

I have been driving around now for 2 days, and enjoy it much more than before! So I think I can safely say my car is fixed.