How do you know if your one or two teeth out of time?

[davj3368]

Over the last two nights, I replaced the rod bearings and oil pump on my 00 Camry. Before I started, I marked the timing belt, but there were already marks there from previous work. (should have cleaned them off) I said, "No, problem, I'll just use the newest looking marks!" Well, by the time I got finished with all the work all the white-out marks looked the same! I searched this forum and found some great threads on setting time, and I feel I followed the instructions pretty good, but when I got finished, and drove the car, it had a vibration when I was accelerating. When it's idling, it sounds/feels good, but when I rev it up I can feel the vibration.

I'm thinking that I may not be perfectly in time. How would I know? Or, the main bearings are shot. I don't 'hear' the bearings -- no knocking -- I just have a motor vibration.

Thoughts?

Thinking I'll be pricing out a new car today....

[bronzemaxell]

Originally Posted by davj3368

Over the last two nights, I replaced the rod bearings and oil pump on my 00 Camry. Before I started, I marked the timing belt, but there were already marks there from previous work. (should have cleaned them off) I said, "No, problem, I'll just use the newest looking marks!" Well, by the time I got finished with all the work all the white-out marks looked the same! I searched this forum and found some great threads on setting time, and I feel I followed the instructions pretty good, but when I got finished, and drove the car, it had a vibration when I was accelerating. When it's idling, it sounds/feels good, but when I rev it up I can feel the vibration.

I'm thinking that I may not be perfectly in time. How would I know? Or, the main bearings are shot. I don't 'hear' the bearings -- no knocking -- I just have a motor vibration.

Thoughts?

Thinking I'll be pricing out a new car today....

when i did my 94 camry v6, i was 1 tooth off at the crank pulley
the engine has more vibration at idle, not a violent shaking though, but once i give a little gas, then the vibration goes away, and it also doesn't feel like lost power during driving.

i went back and realign the timing, and the vibration at idle went away.

[davj3368]

i think the computer may have cleaned up some of my timing issue if, indeed, it was out of time....not sure. seems to idle fine....but when I accelerate it vibrates under load. I'm not sure if I've lost power, I was too scared to give it much gas when I did drive it.

Thinking I may pull the top belt cover off this weekend and recheck things. How accurate is that timing mark on the bottom cover? should I use the 'straw test' to see the actual TDC for cylinder 1?

[sabbates]

I've wondered this myself.

I replaced the timing belt on my 99 Camry 5sfe, and I was not sure if I had the teeth lined up exactly right.

The engine runs good, but hot. My exhaust manifold glows at night. I've been trying to solve the issue through other means- checked for clogged cat, stuck open EGR, etc, but in the back of my mind I keep wondering if the belt is off by a tooth.

Others have said the engine will run crappy, or not at all, if the belt is off.

Maybe the best thing is to use a timing gun? Probably have to turn off the computer adjustment of timing somehow in order to use the gun, however.

[davj3368]

ENGINE BALANCER 180 DEGREES OUT OF TIME! GRRRRRRRR

After replacing the piston rod bearings and oil pump last week my motor would vibrate bad under higher RPMs. I didn't notice it at idle, though. Here's what I did to repair it this weekend.

Rechecked my engine timing, thinking that I may have been out of time a tooth or two....but nope, it was in time. (Thanks Mister_Perkins for the great 'set timing' articles!) I also wondered if I may have had a loose plug wire, but no, all cylinders firing. I then went back and looked at my Haynes book, and then it hit me! I had mounted the balancer with the marks 180 degrees out of time! The Haynes diagram is oriented as if your are working on an upside-down engine....so when I was underneath my car I put the timing marks straight up....like they are in the Haynes picture....but that is wrong! I couldn't wait to drop that pan the next morning! lol Sure enough, when I dropped the pan, set the motor at TDC for cylinder #1, the balancer was out of time! I loosened it enough that I could resync it, retorqued it, then had my son fire it up! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAA smooth as silk! That was awesome.

What was strange was that I didn't notice the vibration when the engine was idling...it was only at higher rpms, or when I was actually accelerating while driving.

Anyway, thanks for all the help, guys. this forum has been a great help, and has saved me tons of $$$$ of the years!

Hope y'all had a great mothers day!

[davj3368]

I wanted to add that....if you are one or two teeth out of time, it will be easily seen if you set the crankshaft at TDC and then check the camshaft timing hole. Even one tooth off on the timing belt would put the camshaft hole noticeably off center of the cam mark.