Man, I just changed my timing belt yesterday after discovering many cracks in it while replacing my valve cover gasket.
All went alright I guess, the normal hang-ups, crankshaft bolt.
but now that i’ve finished, the car is running like complete ****.
i think the two cams must have moved while changing the damn thing and i skipped a tooth or something. tomorrow i’m going to pull all the **** back off and see whats up, my question is
does anyone have a scan of a DECENT timing belt replacement procedure. after seeing how my chiltons has 3 steps for changing the timing belt i figure i’d take a dump on the book before i followed the very shady procedure.
Just a helpful tip (helped me change mine anyways), but when you have the valve cover off, take a look at the camshafts just left of the gears. you should see two holes that go through the shafts… If you line the cams up at TDC, you can put a punch or something through the holes to keep them in place while you put the belt on.
If you go to the teg tips page I have a VTEC cam install guide on there. It will show you how to put the timing belt on. VTEC, non-VTEC…both the same as far as that goes. Always rotate the crankshaft around by hand and back to TDC to verify that the belt is on correctly with proper cam & crank TDC position. Hope this helps.
well, i changed it all up and got it back on the right teeth and everything, but my car still runs like ****. When putting the timing light on the car, the flash is inconsistant. it will flash normal, stop, flash, stop and all this is really irregular. new plugs, new wires and my number one cylinder is given me ****. whatever the problem is with the flash gun, i think it’s causing the car to run poorly.
i’ve loosened all the bolts on the distributor, and when you shift it from side to side, there is little to no change in the condition of the car. i’m really stumped guys, i need this car to run. thanks in advance.
after reading the cam install, i think the crankshaft isn’t at TDC anymore even though the cams are. How do i check to make sure the crankshaft is TDC?
You’ll have to take the crank pulley off again (i know, i know…) and the covers.
You’ll see a mark on the crankshaft gear, and another mark behind it on the oil pump (i believe?). Line those up to set your crank to TDC.
Forgot to ask this, but did you set the timing after you replaced the belt? if there was slack in your old belt, the timing will be different now.
And if you can’t seem to advance or retard your timing within spec (just can’t move the distributor enough) then it’s probably the crankshaft isn’t at TDC. that’s what happened to me.
hey guys thanks for all your support, without the valuable tips you gave i would not have figured it out.
the problem was: during the whole process my crankshaft had moved from TDC to something not so TDC. At the time I wasn’t really thinking about keeping the crankshaft in the same spot.
And after reading dan’s write up for cam installs, i figured out how to get the right amount of tension on the belt. after all was said and done i changed the timing belt, alternator belt, spark plugs, plug wires and valve cover gasket.
she drives and idles so smooth now, it’s like night and day. even though it was a pain in the ass, im sure glad i did it. you learn a lot of new stuff when you do something yourself for the first time, i.e. timing belt.
I have a question for you. How did you get the big ass bolt on the crankshaft off. I replaced my water pump a couple of months ago and I had to call this mobil mechanic and barrow his chain wrench. Is there any other way that I can get that bolt out without the chain wrench??? I really need to get my car running. :argh:
Impact gun worked best for me, combined with acetylene torch. But if it was off recently to change your water pump, just the impact would probably do it (if you have access to one) or borrow or rent a chain wrench OR you can get a tool (rent it from an auto supply/tool store) specifically for crankshaft pulley bolts.
yeah, i used an impact gun at 120 psi to back it off, you can’t use extensions or it won’t work. They’ll flex too much. I think any normal impact gun will get it off.
Originally posted by Justin yeah, i used an impact gun at 120 psi to back it off, you can’t use extensions or it won’t work. They’ll flex too much. I think any normal impact gun will get it off.
no extension eh? hm ill have to try that before i go searching for some heavy heat archivethis