Ohhh Dear !!! Help needed.

Hi all.

Having got the X up to scratch and mot'd, I took it upon myself to have a go at changing the cam belt ! :ohmy: :lol:

Well I lined up the marker on the top pully with the arrow and then marked the lower pully with a mark on that and on the side of the sump, and made a note of the pointer on the lower pully.

Having got the old belt off that was very slack as the tensioner appeared a little seized, I purchased a new belt which in my mind was never going to fir as it was alot shorter than the one that came off.
After a lot of fetling, i decided to put the old one back on for now checking the markers agian as i went.

I was careful when tring to start it as you would, now after a very short time of turning it is tumping out the back on turn over.

The car starts on the first flick of the key, so I have not turned it over any more.


where should the arrow be pointing to on the lower pully ? becuase as far as I am aware nothing moved from the marks I made, and the top pully remained lined up with the arrow pointing to the small line on the top pully.

Its proberbly very simple, but I have never changed one before :blush:

Any advice ?



Now

Did you check the timing marks before you took the belt off? as it sounds like you have it 180deg out,

Check it from first principles - release the timing belt and take #1 spark plug out. Hand turn the crank until you can verify the crank is at TDC. A good verification of this is the window on the bellhousing - assuming the flywheel is fitted correctly you should see timing marks on the flywheel lining up with markings on the edge of the window.

Take the cam cover off and get the cam timing at TDC on the compression stroke (both valves closed on #1). The timing marks should be on the back of the cam pulley and lining up with a marker on the cambelt cover backing plate.

Once you've got those sorted out put your timing belt back on. Tension it. Rotate the engine through a few complete cycles by hand and re-tension the belt. Double check the timing marks are still aligned and you should be done - at least as far as the mechanical timing, you may have to adjust the ignition timing (but this should be tied to the crank so most likely accurate or at worst 180deg off so you can just swap the leads around).

Thanks for the advice guys, I will attempt to look at it during the weekend.

I was just concerned tat it appeared that nothing had noved from the marks I made before taking the old one off, but I guessit must have done ! I suppose it would make a difference if it had moved by one knotch on the belt, if anything it would be the lower pully that moved while fiitting the belt over the top cam pully.

Keep you informed

It is quite easy to knock the timing out. The cam pulley tends to be fairly stiff thanks to the springs but TDC isn't a stable state as you have a few valves open that want to close and will happily go either way.

The crank at TDC is quite easy to move too as you aren't fighting compression to go either way. Taking the plugs out removes compression completely is an easy way to make the crank fairly effortless to turn...

An SOHC engine isn't too hard to work with though - a DOHC engine with two pulleys can be troublesome. In both cases it is worth having a tool for locking the cam pulley.

In your case - with the tensioner barely working beforehand I think you'll find it was originally off by half a tooth (possibly more). Putting a new belt on forces the pulleys to re-align to match the teeth of the new belt.

I have to say that if your car was starting that quickly and easily previously it might actually have been off by a tooth to start with. A single tooth in the right direction moves the engine torque right to the bottom of the range and the idle effortless but also makes it utterly gutless at the top end. One tooth the opposite way will make the car almost impossible to start...

A common mistake is not to hand turn the engine a few times before re-tensioning. This helps to settle the belt and moves all of the slack to the right side of the belt path (where the tensioner is). If you don't re-tension it the belt can skip a tooth quite quickly but then locks tight as the slack is balanced up. Most old-hands will make sure a clear mark is painted onto the pulleys so they can see if the timing has moved without finding all the timing marks on the engine. Equally, on some (at least), you should find the timing belt actually has a pair of lines on it that also match up while you are fitting it.

Thanks Julian.

*I think it may well have been the bottom pully that move slightly as I pulled the bely past the oil pump pully, the top pully never moved from the markings with the arrow pointing at the small grove in the top pully.

I pushe dthe car back in the garage for now and will attemp to have a look on sunday.

If I reline the arrow with the mark on the top pully that you can see through the cam cover, and remove the cover then i will check the power pully agian as i marked that before removing the belt ans see if the marks i made still line up, if not i will have to get it towed away for a garage to sort out.

Thank you once agian for the expert advice,

Well it's time for an update !

Taking theadvice ofered in replies to the topic (many thanks) and further advice from 1.8TS, I have now got the Exxy running again.

Having always kept the top and bottom markers lined up, Ian mentioed that it could be the dizzy and timimg, I do know that the toothed pully (middle one) did move at one point, so after more faffing around and lining the dizzy up with cylinder no4, I noticed that the numbers marked on the top of the dizzy ie 123 & 4, these did no make sense, as when lining up to no 4 the HT lead going from this went to cylinder 3, they all apeared to be mixed up and going to the inncorrect cylinders.

And I swear I never touched any of these, so moved all the HT leads around onto the correct firing order, and HEY PRESTOW :woohoo: she fired on the first turn, I will attempt to check the timing properly when I have more time, i do have a strobe light, but for now we are running and all is well.

I will order another belt and fit, as the one purchased from ebay is too small and hope it goes a little less stressfully next time :lol:

Thanks to all again for your support.

Nigel, I did exactly the same last year. I was totally paranoid about the crank and camshaft and forgot completely about the distributor drive and the ignition timing!

Big lesson learnt for me as well!

Totally agree Terry.

I too thought I was going potty, as I was fully aware that the top and bottom pullys had not moved and where still at TDC.

Still have to fit the new belt though ans the one purchased is to short, but was listed as fitting the Exxy ...

:huh: