NEED HELP: Timing Belt Marks Question

[turbox2k]

Alright guys and gals, I'm new here and I have a problem I was hoping I could get some help with. I own a 2000 Camry 4 cylinder (5S-FE) and I did a timing belt change a few days ago...the car was at 80k.

Anyways, I did the whole timing belt change and all, changed idler bearing, tensioner bearing, water pump, and the belt itself...I thought everything went well. Then I took it out for a test drive and then I realized that the car was behaving a little funny. The car was the same at idle and under 40 MPH. However, above 40 MPH to about 60 MPH, the car needs about 4500 RPMs (it was normally about 3500 RPMs) to change gears.

I'm pretty much guessing that the problem is coming from the timing belt marks, which I'm not convinced I did correctly. I've looked in the repair manuals and such, but the marks are never made explicitly clear. I was wondering if anyone with any experience could clear this up.



So my question is this: How should the camshaft and crankshaft pulleys be aligned? Do I have both of my pulleys off or just one? To my knowledge right now, the camshaft pulley is aligned at TDC (top dead center) with respect to the horizontal. As for the crankshaft pulley, I'm not even sure which is the real mark. There are no marks on the cover or anything. The zero degree setting on the crankshaft pulley is written on the case, so I don't know what to do with that. Anyone with any suggestions I would be happy to hear from.

[88 LE]

1. Remove the upper timing belt cover. You need to remove the left side mount (dogbone and engine mount) to gain access to the upper timing belt cover.

2. Turn the crank pulley clockwise till the notch on the pulley lines up with the "0" mark on lower timing belt cover. This sets #1 at TDC.

3. Loosen up the bolt on the tensioner (idler pulley) and remove the timing belt from the camshaft pulley / camgear.

4. Rotate the camshaft pulley / camgear clockwise till its at TDC. TDC = hole in camgear lined up with the notch on the bearing cap. Bearing cap is right behind the camgear.



5. Install the belt around the camgear and tighten the bolt on the tensioner. Make sure that both the cam and crank are still at TDC.

6. Rotate the crank pulley clockwise 2 full turns (ie: TDC to TDC).

7. Check alignment of crank pulley and camshaft pulley / camgear. Both should be at TDC. If one or both is off, you need to repeat steps 2 - 7.