Hi everyone. I'm in process of changing my timing belt and have run in a snag. IM already worries I broke something, but any help/ advice is appreciated.

The crank pulley and both cam gears were aligned perfectly. In the process of taking off the old belt the rear cam gear popped forward (from about 12 o'clock to 2 o'clock. I couldn't get the gear to go back to 12. I started to try and rotate it a full revolution clockwise (this is why IM afraid I may have bent a valve?)... Now I went back counterclockwise to about 2 o'clock position. If I muscle it back with a combination of wrapping the old timing belt around it and slight pressure with a ratchet it "snaps" back to about 10 o'clock. It will with stay at 10 o'clock or 2, I cannot for the life of me get it to stay at 12 oclock. Any help is really appreciated.!

 

take out the spark plugs that are in that head. then try to align it.

 

i want to do my timing belt and water pump soon how hard would it be like on a scale 1 to 10. 1 being like a oil change and 10 being like a engine rebuild

 

I've seen this happen on several different engines. The cam is in a position where the valve springs want to move it to the 2 o'clock position.

You have some options,

Have someone hold the cam while you put the belt on.

Rotate the other cam to 2:00 and the crank to 4:00 and put the belt on, then rotate everything to 12:00 to make sure everything is lined up.

Back off the adjusters on the rockerarms that are opening the valves, You should adjust them anyway so you might as well back them all out. This will allow you to position the cam at 12:00.

When you turned the cam, did you stop because it wouldn't turn anymore, like it was hitting something, or you were forcing something to move that shouldn't? If not, you probably didn't do anything, Since these motors are a SOHC, the valves won't hit each other, they'll only hit the piston. The only way to know for sure is to get everything together and do a compression test.

 

thats a problem. hitting the piston is still bad

 

Yeah it is bad but you can usually feel it hit. If you do feel it and THEN try to turn the cam, you'll bend the valves.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys! Luckily I was finally able to back the cam back carefully and get it to 12 o'clock. Then I was extra careful when I put the belt around that cam. It worked and when I turned it by hand several times I indeed did no damage! Have fired her up a few times with and without the accesory belts and all seems fine. My only concern is that I didn't torque the crank bolt enough. I used some medium strength loctite and gave it my all... Debating if I can chance a 20 mile drive tomorrow to a shop I know is open to have my mechanic hit it with an impact gun. Oh I still have to bleed the air from the coolant, but decided to save that for the morning.

Rajca, wish I had thought about removing the spark plugs! :/.

RooEng, great advice thank you. I was trying to avoid opening the valve covers at this point, going to save the valve adjustments for another day as I knew running out of like was an issue. Damn I need a garage

2Fast4you, I guess I would put it at a 6, but it's mostly time consuming. I have large hands which didn't help. There is very little room to work in. It definitely requires having every imaginable socket and extension for sure!