I knew this was gonna happen. x( I just changed my timingbelt, water pump, tensioner pulley, and idler pulley. I also put on some AEM cam gears while I was at it.

I used 2 different write-ups and the shop manual, remarked the cam gears, lined everything up and when I put everything back together and started it up, MY TIMING WAS SHIT! I got a P1390 code that says my timing belt skipped a tooth. THIS SUCKS! x(

My question is, can I do anything with the cam gears to get it right again or am I gonna have to do this shit all over?

If I have to do it all over, why do you think this happened, so I don't have to do it a third time. Thanx guys!

did you line up the timing mark behind ure crankshaft pully... And also, plug in the harness behind the back of the block, that connects the crankshaft sensor... When I did mine I forget to attach the harness back together and it gave me the same code...
:thumbsup

Dont be like the other gentleman on the board who tried to "short-cut" as a fix. Take it off and re-do it!!!!!Thats the best way, thats the only way!!
Also keep in mind that some write-ups say to have your crank mark a half a tooth off before the mark on the block when lining up your cam gear marks, but in actulaly you need to be off a full tooth so that when your tensioner goes back on and you pull the grenede pin, taking up the slack pulls the crank mark in line with the mark on the block.

also remeber that your cam marks are going to be off by about 1/8 in.(maybe a bit less) or so when "correctly" timed.

I just ripped everything aprt again and still this is fucked.

Everytime I put tension on the belt the fucking gears move and if they don't the fuck crank will move.

I've tried moving the crank back half a tooth, a full tooth, 1 and a half and 2 teeth. Nothing fucking works!
Am I supposed to have the cam gears alighned and the crank one tooth off toward the firewall and put tension on the belt first or turn the crank back before the tension is on it. I've already tried both ways and still I'm fucked. This is going on 2 weeks now and no fucking progress. Anybody that has anything else to try let me know cause nothing else is working and I'm to pissed to think clearly right now.

ya know, i never put tension on the belt before when ive done mine.

Keep in mind that when you align the cam gear marks that that they are aligned relative to the way the motor sits in the bay, which is to say at about a 30 degree angle. So your marks are going to be at the same angle as well. Does this make sence?

When you squat down next to your car lookin at the cam gears, your marks should not line up at a perfectly straight angle from front to rear. they should be lined up with the same angle as the engine sits in there. heres a visual for you to do if you dont get what im saying:

hold your arm straight out in front of you (like hiel hitler), bend your arm at the elbow so you have a 90 degree bend. now lower your forearm about 3-4 inches. this is about the angle that your cam marks should line up at, which should be the same angle as the engine.

when you have your gear marks like this and your crank mark
a full tooth from the block mark, when you put your tensioner back on prying it up from the bottom to apply tension that way, your crank mark should line up and your gear marks should still be aligned. (they maybe a 16th or so off but that is normal as you have seen from all the pics posted)

does this all make sence?

Follow the FSM instructions. The 20 ft/lbs on the tensioner is completely necessary. The problems you are having are most likely due to the way you are routing the belt. This is the way I do it, and it only takes me one try every time. 1st go get some chip bag clips out of the kitchen. Then start by lining up the timing marks on the cam gears. Then line up the timing marks on the block and crank gear. place the belt over the intake and exhaust cam gears so the belt has no slack between the gears and clip the belt to them using the chip bag clips. Next, route the belt around the water pump and the crank gear keeping the belt tight the whole way. Once you have it this far, you have all of the slack already located at the tensioner pulley. have someone put a torque wrench on the pulley and put 20 ft/lbs of torque perpindicular to the belt. While he holds that amount of tension on the belt, take a flat head screwdriver and pry up on the hydrolic tensioner putting just enough force on it so the pin holding the tensioner plunger down slides freely. Then tighten down the tensioner to the proper torque spec. Rotate the crank 2 revolutions and check the marks again. They should be right on, or extremely close. If its slightly off, use the adjustable cam gears to make it right.

Quote
The 20 ft/lbs on the tensioner is completely necessary.

yes it is! i guess im doing that when i pry up on the tensioner before the pin is pulled. I have never had a second set of hands to help me. So it can be done without applying tension to the crank.

Your actually suppose to apply 21 ft. lbs. :D

And it's completely neccessary, if you want proper belt tension as said above!

I managed to do it with one person. I used 2 aligator clips to keep it from moving on the cam gears. Then I had the tensioner in place and wrench on the bolt ready to be tightened when I add torque to the tensioner pulley. Some help would have been great though, but it was an overnight operation.

Tim is on the same line as me, I have done it 3 times now without having a second set of hands. It can be done. I always thought the hardest thing about out timing belt was getting the damn pully off....the reast is pretty straight forward.

Werd! ^^^

It just wont fucking work. Everytime I try this, something will move. Either the cam gears or the crank will always move. I must have tried 100 times in the last 2 weeks, and the same result no matter how many different ways I try it. It just wont fucking work. :shrug

The last time I tried this, the crank was at TDC but the cam gears moved. I measured the distance between the timing marks on the gears and lined it up with the tuning marks on the cam gears. I turned out to be 8 degrees. I figured to make it right, I should retard both of them 4 degrees. I started the car and it runs, but the idle is pretty shitty. It idles low around 900rpm. I let it run for about 10 minutes. Then I tried retarding it 5 degrees each gear. It seemed a slightly better, but not very noticable.

I remembered that most people here advance the intake around 4 degrees, so just to try something, I left the exhaust at 5 degrees retard and moved the intake to 1 degrees retard and fired it up again. It ran like shit. I'm gonna fuck with it tommorrow.

It seems so close to normal with both at 4-5 degrees retard. It idles low and shitty, but once it gets to 1200 everything sounds great. I didn't wanna have to do it this way, but I can't do it any other way.

If anyone has any suggestions on my tuning or info that can help, it will be much appreciated. Thanx for all the input already even though I couldn't make it work.

Oh yeah! Not including that last time, it was running for a total of about 25 minutes and I didn't get any codes. I scanned before I started the first time and cleared the one from before, and this time I got nothing. So I know things are going better. I might be off, but at least not a whole tooth anymore. :thumbsup






It still sucks though! ;(

hrm...you shouldnt have to adj your cam gears just to have it run right. hrm. make sure tdc is 1 tooth before the lill arrow, make sure you are snugly wrapping the timing belt around everything in the CORRECT order (bottom, up right, over gears, down left)..this just helps eliminate errors. have someone hold the belt on the intake side while you install the tensioner then install the rest of the belt...this worked for me. i dunno i guess i am just creating a check list for you to eliminate anything. peace

gl

-dave

Like I said, in the past 2 weeks we must have takin it off and put it back on 100 times. I wish it could be correct, but it wont happen. I'm just gonna have to work with the cam gears. Fuck it!

B

I don't know why, but the best adjustment for my fucked up cam gears are 4 degrees retard on the intake and 0 degrees on the exhaust. The car feels like it has a tad bit more go to it, but then again I haven't driven it in like 2 weeks. I've been adjusting the gears for 2 days and this is the best I've come up with. Now I've got oil leaking from somewhere. But thats my car. :)

oil leak? might be ur head gasket! that means ur gonna have to take ur belt off again1!!!!!lol jp bro. sorry to steal ur thread, but if ur timing and everything is set correct (like stock) then when the tensioner is released and you have turned the crank 2 rounds, then the timing marks on the cams should be matched up and the crank should be at TDC rite? and not 1 notch before TDC? that's all i want to know. is it considered lined up when everything is line up? or 1 notch b4 TDC?