Timing belt broke

[rlmc60]

Here's the thing. Lined up mark on harmonic balancer with TC on cover. (It resembles a scratch and is the only mark I see on it.) Diamonds on cam not lining up. Stops just before or skips right over every time. It is supposed to line up before putting on belt, right? Not a mechanic here and keep running into things like this. I will definitely be less ignorant about this job after this. 1998 2.5L SOHC.

 

[black_demon69]

Here's the thing. Lined up mark on harmonic balancer with TC on cover. (It resembles a scratch and is the only mark I see on it.) Diamonds on cam not lining up. Stops just before or skips right over every time. It is supposed to line up before putting on belt, right? Not a mechanic here and keep running into things like this. I will definitely be less ignorant about this job after this. 1998 2.5L SOHC.

line up timing marks put and retain tension on tensioner put belt on release tensioner and put tension on belt.. one or two teeth on belt should be ok but i would try to get on 100% in right place. heres a pic of timing marks locations

also make sure cylinder 1 is on compression stroke..

 

[rlmc60]

Thank you for the diagram. I do know where all the marks are. The problem is the cam jumping off its mark now, every time I release the tensioner. The diamond on the sprocket is still within the other mark, but at either of the outside points. Is that okay or does it have to be directly on the center point? I really am pretty fearful of messing up my engine.

"line up timing marks put and retain tension on tensioner put belt on release tensioner and put tension on belt.. one or two teeth on belt should be ok but i would try to get on 100% in right place. heres a pic of timing marks locations"

My apologies. Getting ahead of my self and not taking time to read everything as I should. I would rather be dead on but it doesn't appear I'll have that luxury. I will try it once again.

 

[black_demon69]

Thank you for the diagram. I do know where all the marks are. The problem is the cam jumping off its mark now, every time I release the tensioner. The diamond on the sprocket is still within the other mark, but at either of the outside points. Is that okay or does it have to be directly on the center point? I really am pretty fearful of messing up my engine.

"line up timing marks put and retain tension on tensioner put belt on release tensioner and put tension on belt.. one or two teeth on belt should be ok but i would try to get on 100% in right place. heres a pic of timing marks locations"

My apologies. Getting ahead of my self and not taking time to read everything as I should. I would rather be dead on but it doesn't appear I'll have that luxury. I will try it once again.

belt has teeth so if you start at crank and keep teeth on sprockets and some tension then belt on tensioner last it should work better for you when you apply tension to belt. bear in mind the last time i messed with a 2.3 was about 20 years ago.. 1 or 2 teeth should be ok as i believe if memory serves each tooth is about 2 degrees of timing no more though. i do remember the first time i did one i had a hard time as well....

 

[rlmc60]

So you're saying if I'm one tooth off on my cam, then I should be okay? I cannot seem to ever get the cam set dead on no matter what I do. Oil pump marks are a bit closer than one tooth off.

 

[kunar]

If the notch falls between the two outside marks, you're fine. Get it as close as you can, but sometimes its never perfect. I'm fairly certain that one tooth off either direction would throw it outside that range. A tooth off is not okay, its definitely more than a couple degrees, closer to 10 iirc.

 

[Andy D]

Crude but effective would be wedge the cam in place so it can't jump. Be careful, cams are brittle

 

[enjr44]

Put the belt on "one tooth off" so that when the tensioner pulls the belt tight it pulls the cam to the correct place.

 

[rlmc60]

Thank you guys for all your help. Didn't realize there are two marks on the cam sprocket. A diamond AND a triangle. Better half saw the triangle through the dirt and grease, me thinking I had it cleaned off enough. Sprocket must fit more than one engine? Anyhow, works much better when you have the right marks to align! Going to put her back together...hopefully with no spare bolts. Heh!