which camshaft mark do i use? 3sfe 87 camry - timing belt

[Mike13R6]

1987 Camry. Doing timing belt and ran into one small problem

Matching timing marks on camshaft pulley. Crank is already timed but on the camshaft cap, I see two spots. A little hole (dot - at about 10 oclock) and a line (which is at 12 oclock).

Which one do I use? Here are pics - what the manual says, what it looks like and what the cam pulley looks like:

(this pic was taken backwards - sorry: "line" is at 12 oclock and circle is at 10 oclock)

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...00cc/part3.jpg

The camshaft pulley:

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...00cc/part2.jpg

And what the manual says:

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...00cc/part1.jpg

THANKS! Really need to find out and then go from there. Appreciate it guys, have a good one.

[white90dx]

You want the 'line'. It is at the 12 o'clock position if the motor is vertical, but around the 10 o'clock position if the motor is in the car.

-Charlie

[89Camry89]

If this image shows up, this is how I did it on my car. Looking through the small hole in the gear reveals the mark on whatever that is behind it.

This was in 2002.

[Mike13R6]

Ok cool, I THINK I got it timed correctly. Here are a few pics, want to see what y'all think. Hopefully its not a tooth off or anything like that. But I messed with it and based on these pics, final results of atleast getting it timed:

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...0cc/new003.jpg --- not bright but camshaft sprocket at the 12 oclock position with the "line"

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...0cc/new005.jpg --- two cams timed together

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...0cc/new010.jpg --- and the crankshaft pulley with mark at 0.

Does that look correct? If so finish putting everything back together. Thanks

[yotaforce]

you can remedy the "one tooth off" by looking at the belt and lining up the lines from crank to cam. All timing chains and belts have atleast two marks on them to ensure alignment

[89Camry89]

When you think you have the belt in the right place, manually rotate the crank shaft 2 or 4 revolutions. (even numbers for a full compression and exhaust cycle)

When the crank reaches top dead center = TDC (the zero mark on the plastic shroud at the bottom) the cam should also be sitting on it's mark.

If it passes this test, the timing should be ok.


From memory, I can't recall how I set the cam shaft. You'll need to double check this with a book, but I think TDC is for whichever piston is #1 and it would be during its compression stroke. With that in mind, the cam should be in between intake and exhaust. Just having finished intake and going up for firing (the cylinder would fire around 12 degrees or something) and then the piston would be on the way down, the exhaust valves would start to open when the piston reaches the bottom. You can study the lobes on the cams to deduce where this is for that specific piston. I can't remember if it is possible to be half a phase degrees out of time.

[sayers74]

tdc is tdc whether compression or exhaust its still at the top of the cylinder.

How you set the cam tells it which stroke its on (compression or exhaust)

Afaik o degrees = tdc period.
the cam mark indexed to the mark on the head at 11 o clock or so says its compression time.