kyle23 Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 Hello all I am doing this timing belt water pump job on my 97 vg33. Water pump install went smoothly and now I'm just having a little trouble getting the new belt on. I just can not get the tensioner on with the new belt on. I tried putting the tensioner on first and still the belt did not fit over the gears. In the 1A auto video he makes it looks so easy and yes when trying to put the belt on I have all the marks in the correct position. I thought maybe it was the wrong belt so i put the old one on and still couldn't get the belt to slide over the tensioner. Also in two of my attempts of getting the belt on the passenger side cam moved and when I tried putting back into place the gear jumped 90 degrees, I'm really hoping I didn't bend a valve or something. Any help is appreciated, getting this vehicle in good road condition has been a pain in the behind but I'm determined to get it fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 It was a while ago that I did mine, but I vaguely remember the tensioner being able to sit in two orientations, one rotated up and one rotated down, if that makes sense. You want the Allen key hole below the nut. I'm not sure this is even possible to screw up, but it's all I can think of, unless the tensioner is wrong (compare to the old one) or there's a bunch of belt slack between the cams because you didn't turn the one that jumped quite back to where it was. Speaking of, one of my cams jumped too. I turned it back the way it came, no harm done. It should be fine unless you try to force the cam to turn the rest of the way around. I do remember having to fight a little to get everything lined back up afterwards, though. While you're in there... when I did mine, I didn't replace the crankshaft seal, because it wasn't leaking. It began leaking as soon as I got it back together, and I had to tear it all apart again. Don't skip the crank seal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strato_54 Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 I always start from the bottom, then the driver side cam and end on the passenger side. You're going to have to slide the belt on together at once. Just put the belt on the edge of all the pulleys, then slide it on to its final position. You're not going to hurt the belt from sliding onto the gears its just how it is being so new. It may take a few tries to work it on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle23 Posted July 9 Author Share Posted July 9 12 hours ago, Slartibartfast said: You know now that I think of it I noticed there was a lot of slack between the cams and between the crank and drivers side cam. I am 99% sure I have the marks lined up correctly I will note though the passenger side mark is slightly before the mark on the cover because that's the way it was before I took it apart and after reading some posts it's supposed to be like that apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Yeah, the dimples on the cover are approximate at best. Go by the tooth count between the marks on the sprockets. 40 teeth between the cams, 43 from driver's cam to crank. If it's loose between the cams, that's slack you don't have where you need it get it around the tensioner, so that could very well be what's holding you up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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