Currently I'm trying to replace a water pump on a 1992 SC300. I have removed just about everything including the crank pulley and the harmonic balancer. I can't figure out how to loosen the timing belt tensioner though?????PLEASE HELP!!

Also, (this is a long story short) when I was removing the crank pully I used a socket and wratchet to hold the cam sprocket in place to loosen the crank pulley bolt. When I did this the crank pulley moved a little bit, along with the belt, but the cam gears stayed in place.

I had previously marked the the cam sprockets and belt with a paint marker for alignment.

Now the problem is, once loosen the tensioner, get the belt off, get the water pump replaced, how to I get the enging back in perfect time?? The belt only slipped about One tooth on cam sprocket so should I back the crank up about one tooths worth to get back in time???
Really need some help on this one. Thanks for all your help,
Jayson

 

set crank to top dead center, set the two cam gears to 12 oclock, and set the timing belt.

 

I have the cam gears set perfectly in time according to the notches on the cam gears and the two bumps on the shielding. I'm unsure how to determine perfect time on the crankshaft though? Should the crank key be in the upright position or do I just look at the 0 degree timing mark on the plastic cover? Thanks for all your help!!, Jayson

 

isnt there a mark on the camshaft pully that needs to line up with the mark on the cover? i dunno; i just did this on a honda civic yesterday.

 

i am at the same stage now i have loosen the timing pulleys, but i can figuire out in where or how do i loosen the timing belt, i cant find the timing tensioner, it's a 1995 SC300

 

The tensioner is attached underneath the bracket mounted upside down with 2 either 12mm or 14 mm bolts. One on the front side, one on the back side. The one on the back side is easier to reach if you are looking from the bottom of the car. But I still manage to reach from the front. Since you said the timing belt pulley is out, then the pin of the timing belt tensioner should be up all the way. Since it is out you have to push the pin back in with a quite large amount of force (about 200~ lb according to a little booklet I got when I bought the tensioner) Once it's down, you can insert a pin to hold that position of the pin in place. (good luck trying to press it)
then you can change your water pump and whatever else.
to install everything back in, install the tensioner first but with the pin still in place. Bolt it up with those two bolts you had, then put your timing belt pulley back on it's place with that one bolt going through it. Get your crank back in position, cam gears in position (btw, there's marking on all three pulley/gear to let you check) After all pulley/gears are in position, set your belt back on. If everything looks good, put that pin on the tensioner just like you would on a grenade. And I guess you know the rest.

 

couldnt have said it better myself

as far as the timing belt and the cams go i just used some vice grips on the timing belt and the cams and a ziptie on the bottom of the timing belt. I left the cams connected to the belt when i took them off too.