casmas54

Installed a new timing belt on my 1990 lexus ls 400 and when I went to rotate it two turns to check the alignment it only rotated about 50 degrees before stopping dead. It would rotate backwards about 240, 250 degrees. I removed the timing belt and the camshafts moved freely. Since it"s a non interference motor, there are no worries here. Only the crank had this issue. I have never had this happen before when changing a timing belt.The only thing I did different was following the procedure in my Lexus manuals and removing the spark plugs. My first thought of course, I dropped something accidentally in one of the cylinders. I had a mechanic friend check it out and he came to the same conclusion. So after considerable time running flexible magnets and endoscopic cameras thru my cylinders I came to the conclusion there was nothing in them. After making one more check the crank started mysteriously turning smoothly( after dozens of times of me cranking it back and forth)..I was both shocked and relieved and getting ready to throw it all back together when I thought I should pause and consider checking other things. My mechanic buddy said I should pull the oil pan and inspect the crank and connecting rods which I will do.. So the moral of this story is I will follow My mechanic buddy's advice, ignore the manual.... Never pull the spark plugs when changing the timing belt. Don't waste the time and the slight risk of dropping something in a cylinder. Or end up like me, thinking you did( and didn't) and driving yourself crazy trying to find it.. If anyone has some knowledge on what caused this issue it would be greatly appreciated.

YODAONE

You used compressed air to clear sparkplug tubes before extracting sparkplugs?

What method and tools were used to loosen and tighten the harmonic balamcer?