If your timing goes completely out of whack while setting the timing due to a jumped belt, is it easy to remedy?
Is it possible to just remove the belt, position each cog individually (left cam, right cam, crankshaft) to their TDC positions and start over?
Or, because it takes two revolutions for the engine to correctly get back to TDC, is the above query not possible and have I totally ruined the timing of my engine?
(the belt remained in the left half of the crankshaft, skipped out onto the teeth on the right side, and subsequently as I turned the cams, everything is now way out of alignment, right cam might be the only normal cam).
The camshafts wonāt want to stay in the correct position, though (due to pressure from the valve springs) so it helps a lot to have something to lock them in position - two adjustable wrenches on the hex part of the camshafts with a āGā clamp (or similar) to hold the handles together works well and leaves your hands free to position the belt.
I have the jass locking tool because I didnāt trust the 2 spanner/grips method to not go hideously wrong for me since my only spanners that would fit are adjustable and prone to re-adjust themselves as they like (that said I almost lost one of the locking tool nuts down the spark plug hole, but thankfully it remained in the main chamber - a magnet wand still saved me there).
Whew!
I know itās a stock 1.8 and non-interference, but the noise it made was not pleasant to hear (like a ratchet handle slipping mixed with a torque wrench click if I tried to describe it).
Unfortunately the same issue occured, everything turns smoothly and then you hit āa pointā and the pulley suddenly turns with a cracking sound (I did record it, but the forums donāt allow audio/video uploads).
At the same time (or maybe the noise is created by it) the belt throws up, the pulley then turns freely, the belt lands down again (one tooth forward) and the timing is now out of whack again.
Sounds a bit worrying! Can you feel any sudden resistance as you turn the camshaft? (If so, stop - there is something seriously wrong.)
Are you doing this with the tensioner loose? If thereās any slack in the belt at all, the camshafts will suddenly flip forwards as each cam goes over centre - I suppose this could be enough to make the belt skip a tooth if it was slackā¦ Does it still do it with the tensioner snugged up?
Itās taken 3 hours but I finally got the files off my phone and somewhere I can share.
First, this is the sound that happens when the timing belt is on and it skips the tooth:
Second, this is what happens when you rotate it without a timing belt on, as you get past TDC:
Talking of TDC, to get the pulleys to TDC is requiring 2 spanners, one to move I pulley left, other to hold E pulley right, an assistant to hold the spanners in position, and then I can put the camshaft locking tool in place to lock the cams - is this normal as I thought it was a one person job. If you donāt hold the spanners down the pulleys will jump forward/back and go off TDC.
Also, I havenāt tried again due to the heat so maybe I hadnāt got the bolt done up enough - but, is the above audio/video normal (is that what you meant by the cam flipping?).
Thatās normal behaviour (but try and avoid doing it). Itās what I meant when I wrote that it āflips forwardsā. Is it the camshaft moving thatās causing the sound?
You may as well just clamp the spanners together when the camshafts are in the right place as try and fit the locking tool. (Locking tool would make sense if the belt was still on.)
It is when you rotate the camshaft, so it is possible (as I hadnāt been aware of the āflipā previously) that it reaches TDC again and throws itself forward and slips the belt.
I guess all I can try is making the bolt on the tensioner pulley even tighter and see if the same result occurs?
There is nothing wrong, just reset the belt and timing, and get out in here, the spring is not taking up the tension correct , use a pry bar and push the tensioner in slightly more and then lock it up with the 14mm.
M-m
So, I take it I:
Refit belt.
Push the tensioner and lock in place.
Rotate engine twice to check.
Rotate 1 5/6.
Loosen tensioner again.
Allow spring to work, maybe push in more again?
Tighten Up.
okay, so I got everything aligned again - I/E arrows on the cogs pointing to 12, other arrows pointing exactly to their corresponding marks on the front cover plate (wish Iād taken a photo to prove it! ).
Did as @Mazda_mender recommended and pushed the tensioner in further, then tightened it alot!
The belt didnāt seem to jump etc. but thatās definitely no longer aligned, and I didnāt even start turning until Iād again checked everything lined up in case I needed to start over (which I guess I now do).
Thanks for the reply, that was one of the videos Iād been using as reference.
However what has happened subsequently is somewhat strange.
I undid the tensioner pulley in preperation for removing the belt to try again, after doing this I noticed that the cam pulleys had since leaving it mysteriously moved by themselves.
They were now at the 11am and 1pm-ish positions which is not how they were left when I took the photos, theyād rotated themselves counter clockwise.
Out of curiosity I tightened up the idler pulley again and rotated the pulleys until they sat again at 12 oāclock and all the alignment markers suddenly matched up again.
Rather than pull the belt off, I decided to see what would happen when I did the 1 5/6ths turn and then tightened the belt (though I think itās as tight as it was).
After doing this, I finished off the final 1/6th turn and was greeted with everything āmore or lessā aligned (Iām really finding it difficult to tell since depending on where your eyes look it either looks perfectly aligned or way off) and then tightened up the idler pulley to 50nm.
I did notice that the crankshaft downward arrow on the engine, is pointing to the left most part of the notch on the crankshaft pulley, which is how the original looked when it came off (I took a lot of photos before hand).
Timing looks right to me - everything is very slightly past TDC in the photos which is why things donāt look absolutely smack-on (of no consequence - itās set right).
Thanks for the reply and all the replies from everyone
Canāt do any more to it because I need to buy replacements for all the rusty bolts and hose clips that broke on removal.
Also today is the last of the good weather so Iām unsure when Iāll next be able to work on it, so for now Iāve covered as much as possible to protect against moisture and closed the bonnet.
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