I'm replacing the timing belt in a 95 v6 pickup with 128K miles. I can not seem to get the timing marks to line up. I've put the belt on with the top two marks in the correct position and the crank at the correct spot. The belt is very tight and hard to get on, then I turn the engine by hand and when the cams line up the crank is off. I've tried setting it 3 times and when I check it is off. If I had hair I would be ripping it out! What am I doing wrong?

 

I'm no expert at this, but i've done it once when replacing the knock sensor wire. What i ended up doing was putting the crank and cams at their right spots and then you know the big pulley on the top in the center? well i would put that on by pushing down and i would tighten the bolts all the way down, and see how much off the cams were. I think it ended up being a couple teeth towards the center for each cam. Then i would take off the pulley, and line up the cams a couple teeth away from the center. Then i would tighten down the pulley again, and everything would line up. Then i rotated the crank a few turns, and everything was still right. I don't know how most people do it, but that's how i did it and it worked fine. If you do it that way, remember to put some rtv sealant when you tighten the pulley for the final time since coolant runs through it.

 

Thanks I'll try that.

 

Just a double check, but you have the belt oriented so that the LH cam mark is on the ENGINE'S left hand side and not your left as you face the engine?

I read a write up from a compitent mechanic and even he screwed that up....