timing belt help asap - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

PEN · 07-28-2011, 04:17 AM

1990 toyota celica gt, 2.2 5sfe engine.

okay this is pissing me of majorly and I may cry if I kill my engine. Okay before I replaced the timing belt about 8 months ago for the first time in my life took about 5 hours to learn everything. I didnt paint marking at the time I ended up having to reset the timing and I somehow did it perfect the first time and passed smog 30 min later... yay me. The problem is now I replaced my water pump and shot my timing to hell now. I've tried twice to adjust the timing, I can do the whole deal within 10 min "made easy access". first attempt started car car idle'd weird and skipped teeth, fixed and reset timing with method i did before" stuck a stick into the out 2 spark plug holes, couldn't remember which one is 1 too stressed, and wrench the bottom pully till the piston was just a little before the top. last time i did right at the top point. and the upper pully with the little dot for guidance I pointed slightly up. engine creid and sounded like I was standing next a dragster except a god awful metal to metal sound.

I need ASAP a guide how to do this without a timing gun. some ****** stole it out of my car last night as well as breaking into a friends car that lives in our complex.

Sooo please reply with pics and how adjust or where the stupid marks are located because I don't see and marks, numbers, or little (V) thing in the pully. My engine is a bit grimy in this area and I ca need to know how to fix fast or I'm going to be finned for "working on my car" which is really stupid, but the owners rule...

**** Don't give a crap on if something broke only reply with timing adjustment advice or details please*****

PEN · 07-28-2011, 04:35 AM

Also to add. I dont not have the timing belt cover which apperetly had the marking on it I know the is a way to find the TDC setting and I think its the one where you stick a rod into the 1st spark plug hole and wait till it doesn't move up or down when you turn the bottom pully. 2nd for the top pully with the small hole in to to find the setting I do not understand, many guides and sites say align it with some seal??? 1 I can't see through the hole or anything when I look through the other holes on the part itself, and 2 if I remember correctly last time I stuck an object through the hole and waited for it to catch something and left it at that. car worked fine now it wont. any Ideas?

bumperbozo · 07-28-2011, 11:29 AM

i picked up a little dental mirror at wal-mart the other day for this purpose. it was in the pharmacy section, bundled with some plaque scrapers i might be able to use for something else.

these links have pictures of the indentation you are looking for on the area just outside the cam seal. it is near the top, slightly toward the back of the car.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t109966.html

this one shows it in the 4th picture, circled in green:

http://www.baktasht.com/_html/hosted/timingbelt4.html

you should really get yourself a replacement timing belt cover and borrow a timing gun. try a local salvage yard or looking on http://car-part.com/. it won't be possible to get tune your timing right without it. you may be able to get it to turn over on it's own, but you will be wasting fuel and it will probably overheat the pistons and cause carbon buildup which will eventually ruin your piston rings.

that said, yes, you want the first piston at the top of its stroke. when this is the case, the tab on my crankshaft that keeps the belt pulley from spinning is pointing generally upwards.

the reason it will be hard to get precise timing is that the piston doesn't move very fast when it is near TDC. it moves quite fast a quarter turn later, so you could find the middle of the stroke with some precision, but not TDC because 5 degrees of rotation will have a much less perceptible impact on the depth of whatever you stick in the spark plug hole. also, it's easy to damage the spark plug threads and screw up your torques if you use a heavy rod, and it's also easy to break off a chunk into the cylinder and damage it when it's running if you use a wood rod or something friable or dirty.

PEN · 07-28-2011, 02:48 PM

i used a wire wire hanger to find the TDC but being a retard I think I might have retarded the timing alot because I let It stop a little bit before the top, and without thinking could have set it back -30* . so tonight Ill for the very last and final time before I give up put it at the very TDC like I did last time. As for the other top part I try to keep in mind that the engine is tilted a bit so can you send a pick of yours at TDC?

PEN · 07-28-2011, 02:55 PM

BTW thank you sooooo much for the mirror tip!!! Been stressed and couldn't think of anything to use to see it, the apartments where I live have a no auto policy which if they catch me again Ill most likely get kicked or fined they said, which I think is retarded the worst part is I was out at midnight and the maintenance man still caught me. I was like wtf is it your mission to find me??

PEN · 07-29-2011, 01:56 AM

okay using my method of the rod and found the top pullys mark and got the timing right. theres some grease on the timing belt and coolant when i rev the engine it seems to jump teeth or mark a strange virbrating noise, it doesn't do it long because I kill the engine right as it starts. So tomarrow im going to degrease that area and wash a bit to hope fully get the unwanted dirt off.