sadc

Upon changing the timing belt for my 92 es300. I can get the intake and exhaust cams to match up to the timing marks on the cover(TDC). But I can never get the crankshaft to ever match up. I think the closet I've gotten was maybe 35-45 degrees off past top dead center. What can I do? Can I just rotate the crankshaft while the timing belt is off since the 3vz in a non interference motor? or will I fu* **** up? Thanks in advance

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Remove the belt and set the crankshaft at TDC first, and then adjust the cams accordingly.

sadc

Cams are pretty much set. The intake and exhaust are matched up with the marks on the timing cover. So could I just line up the cams, take off the belt and rotate the crankshaft counter clock wise 45degrees?

LeX2K

Does your belt have marks on it for the cams and crank? The better ones do.

sadc

The belt is super old and its on the verge of slipping apart. no marks on it...

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I haven't seen a belt, even OEM that has timing marks on it just because it's not necessary when what you should be looking at is the marks on the pulley and gears.

If the belt is old, you might as well replace it because it could be skipping teeth for all we know. You can take off the belt and reposition the crankshaft. Just make sure the crank pulley is at the TDC position. The piston won't be hitting the valves.

LeX2K

Are you putting back the old belt, or installing a new one? If the belt does not have any marks on it, then you have to put the lower timing cover and crank pulley on. Then set the mark on the pully to exactly zero degrees, take them off, put your belt on, then again put the crank pulley and lower timing cover back on.

You can't install the belt unless you have removed the hydraulic tensioner, and you will need to compress the tensioner in a vise and insert a hex key into the hole to keep it compressed until you have bolted it in.

BTW, an alternative to putting the crank pulley on is to look very carefully at the crank gear, there will be a tiny bump on it. That needs to be lined up to the oil pump housing, there should be a very small mark on it as well. You will notice there is a dot on the crank gear as well, that is used when you have a Toyota or equivalent belt that has marks on it.

LeX2K

Having just done the t-belt on my 3VZ-FE, I can tell you that belts most certainly do have marks. It was a Mitsuboshi belt, but Toyota OEM belts have the same marks. It makes it very very easy to do the job, you do not have to worry about setting the crank and cam perfectly.

All you do is align the mark to the crank gear, put the belt around the tensioner and water pump, then align the belt marks with the cam marks. You then rotate the the crank a few degrees counter-clockwise, and install the idler bearing. Because the marks on the belt correspond to exactly the number of teeth on the belt that is needed for correct timing, it's impossible to do the job wrong using this method.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

You mean those white lines? Those are only helpful if you're putting in a new belt. It disappears after a few thousand miles so it doesn't really help someone like sadc, or anyone else that just wants to change the timing. Those marks are secondary checks for me. Maybe I'm just old school.

LeX2K

The service manual suggests marking the old belt before removing it.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I'm aware of what's in the manual. That only helps if the cams and crank are in the correct position. If the OP marks his current timing, he'll be back at square one. That doesn't really help him at all as he's looking to correct it and the only way to do that with the current belt is to align it manually via old school way. Like I said, the marks are all nice and all, but it should be a secondary check, not primary.

sadc

Only reason Im asking this is because im pretty sure my timing jumped. Not sure how the car ran before since I never did drive it.(bought it with the water pump broken) Lexus2000 I do see the mark on the crank gear. But I dont see the marking on the oil pump housing
Check out this picture

LeX2K

You may not have one. Check your PM I sent you something that will help you out.

We'll have to agree to disagree, because in the Toyota FSM, it instructs you to use the marks on the belt. Then you verify the timing using the engine marks. It also tells you to rotate the crank 720° and verify timing, after you do this the timing belt marks are useless, so in effect the marks are used as a primary means.

Like I said, if you decide to use the t-belt marks, then you don't have to have the engine marks exact, just close enough for fitment. Having done many t-belt jobs I can say for sure that it makes things much faster, and it is fool proof. Toyota puts those marks on the belt for a reason!

Barryst

Agree with the above.
A new OEM timing belt will help a lot setting the marks up.
Then rotate the crankshaft 2 times to see if the camshafts and crankshaft line up with their respective marks.
I have done this before, and after finding my rear camshaft off 1 tooth, I re-did the proceedure. Sometimes there is a little lash in the belt. Rotating the crankshaft helps even out the play.

There is a U-Tube video of someone doing an RX timing belt somewhere in U-Tube land
He uses tye wraps to hold the timing belt on the camshafts up top.

Hope this helps...

lex2001

I did the timing belt on my mother-in-laws Avalon and wife's LS430 this summer. Here are some videos and info I used. The camshafts can be spun around once to put them on their marks if they are off. The crankshaft however has to be rotated two times around, if I recall correctly to keep it in time. It can be confusing. I used timing belts that had marks on them. Just being one tooth off will screw up your timing. Once you get it done if you ever have to take the belt off again mark it with white out so you can align it when you put it back on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf93v-d3Kdc
http://www.shastaanesthesia.com/Lexus/Page1.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ent-ls430.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI60MOkf168
There is a Part two to the above