DrCreosote

Today I replaced an uber leaky front main seal. As I removed it, it disintegrated in my hands. The new seal went in just fine and I put in a new timing belt just because I was in there. I followed all the instructions in my manual to set up the timing and even checked them twice. I'm quite accustomed to timing chains on American v-8's and they are easy, but I seem to have missed something and my truck is out of time. I'm going to re-do it tomorrow, but I would like someone to give me a step-by-step on making sure I have the timing right.

For some background, the timing marks are present on the cam gears and it was set at TDC, the timing marks lined up with the marks on the housing. I went so far as to mark the position of the belt on each timing mark, then barred the engine around until the marks on my belt were back on top. However, when it came all the way around, the mark on the belt did not line up with the marks on the gears, yet the gears were all in the proper position, and it appeared to be at TDC, though in retrospect I have doubts that it was. I checked the book and it said nothing about any marks on the timing belt, that was just my own thing. Now my question is whether or not that matters, and if so, is there a trick, such as counting teeth, to make sure it all goes the way it's supposed to.

I guess the upside is that it's relatively easy to get to the timing belt, just time consuming is all.

scope103

When you say "out of time," are you talking about using a timing light? (meaning: ignition timing, not valve timing). The valve timing can be exactly right and the ignition timing can be all over the place.

Valve timing is just a matter of making sure that when the cam marks point up, the engine is at TDC. Turn the crank two revolutions to check, just to make sure you don't have a tensioner issue.

Don't worry about the marks on the timing belt, they are SUPPOSED to NOT line up after you turn the crank (this is called a "hunting" pattern, so that the same part of the belt doesn't hit the same part of the cogs on every circuit). You can buy belts pre-marked, and it is just to make the initial installation a little easier, like it did for you.

If your ignition timing is off, that's a completely different issue. You might have to adjust the distributor, or if you got it off by a tooth when you installed it, you'll have to pull it out and get it on the right tooth. The error there is multiples of about 27 degrees, so if you're off by 10 degrees that's not it.

DrCreosote

ThanX, scope, I'm going to go out and see if that's the case. I am comforted to know the belt hunts, so I'll go make sure I had the marks lined up right, just in case I made some noob mistake.

DrCreosote

I got the thing fixed. It turns out I was doing two things wrong. The first was that I was using the wrong mark on the crankshaft pulley. I cleaned off the timing gauge and saw where I should have been setting it. The other problem appears to have been some slack in the timing belt when I put it on. When I barred the engine around, it was out of time. Once I took care of the slack, it worked flawlessly.

I had to tear it down twice, but I learned more about the engine in the process.

ThanX again.

camo31_10.50

do you have the hydraulic tensioner?

DrCreosote

Nope. It's the spring tensioner.

camo31_10.50

uggh..lucky lol

buel09

Could you tell me how did you get the timing gear off to put the main seal on?

MudHippy

Timing gear puller.

Make one or buy one.
http://www.greatnecksaw.com/product_...ee3dedb86cdc83

DrCreosote

When I pulled the gear, it took one light turn on the gear puller and popped right off, so it's not likely to work you too hard, but you will need a puller.

buel09

Thank you !!