Without going into great details of the situation (but I will if you ask...) how far out of timing can the 3.3 go before damage ensues? Say, if my timing belt were to somehow skip a tooth...how far out could it go before the valves and pistons became best buds?

Not exactly sure I'm right but timing and a jumping belt are two different things in sorts. Changing the valve timing could be a bad thing can't tell you exactly but on most engines the tolerance is close. Spark timing is different. sorry i couldn't help if it's still running you might have lucked out.

From what I've read on this board and XF, and from having a basic idea of the principles of an interference engine...if you continue to run it, you will cause damage.
IF your TB is the problem. What's your mileage? What's the symptom? You've spent enough time on the boards, I'm sure you must know by now that the TB needs to be replaced at 105k. I have also read about quite a few folks who have had to replace worn distributors.



Hehe...the distributor is driven by a gear on the cam. The cam is driven by the timing belt, which is driven by the crankshaft. Spark (or ignition) timing and valve timing are two different things, but they are related.

Yeah, I know about the 105k interval, heh. My truck is at 88k. But it's an '04 so it's well past the recommended age for the belt.

It was misfiring, noise coming from around the distributor body. Pulled the distributor and it looked fine. Checked the timing and found it to be about 40° BTCD, possibly more.

Anywho, the truck hasn't run for going on 6 weeks now. I had the timing belt service done, the belt was SPANKED, easily 1" of deflection in both directions. Lucked out and had no head/valve damage.

It wasn't until the road test that we discovered that the catalytic converters had been fouled and are now plugged, so I'm playing the waiting game on headers, secondary cats, and all that good stuff.

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Huh, are you absolutely sure the TB was done correctly? Timing marks all lined up, belt tension etc?
Do you have an OBDII scanner?
Have you tried adjusting your timing?
Just because the distributor "looked" fine, doesn't necessarily mean all is well. There is a cam position sensor built in to the distributor.
I'd start trying to look at what it might be before I made adjustments or took things off to look at them. Stick to the KISS rule, and go from there. 40* BTDC is off quite a bit, as I'm sure you know.
If your cats truly are plugged it sounds like you had another problem to start with. That doesn't just happen.

I just realized I never posted an end-game to this thread. Whoops!

The truck is back up and running, has been for a while now.

Turned out when my mechanic adjusted the timing, he didn't do it right - he never disabled the electronic advance, so all his adjustments were taken up and changed automatically...despite my recommendations and suggestions...