Outside timing belt wear, pictures

[NHerron]

...These expensive plastic timing belt covers, I swear

First off, this is a 6 bolt in a 2G bay.

I have seen all the threads here on the oil pan bolt gouging and crank timing plate rubbing the belt on the inside. But I'm having problems with the belt wearing on the OUTside towards the plastic cover. It's fraying the cords a little bit and the teeth now have a slight angle to them.

Before the tear down I marked the belt with a red paint stick 7 inches long and drove about 20 miles. Now the red has worn off on the teeth portion, but not the flat area. I used every bolt to secure the cover as well as the top cover so nothing could get in. The belt also rides perfectly centered.

So I pull off the timing cover expecting to find a nice gouge in the plastic but it wasn't that bad. I only found ONE spot where it looks like it was barely touching, and I couldn't even feel with my finger.

So is that the only thing to blame here or???

Thanks pictures attached. Please comment

 

[MichaelSuch]

If it's wearing off on the teeth portion before the smooth surface then it sounds like there is a problem with one of the sprockets, crank sprocket or oil pump sprocket or cam gears even. Where is the belt positioned on the cam gears? Is it pretty much centered or is it hanging off the gears closer to the timing cover? If so check the tensioner bolts, I recently had this happen the bolt backed off and the timing belt was sliding off the gears so to say and rubbing the cover. Pictures of the timing belt and where it sits on the gears would help.

EDIT: Missed the part where it was centered. Check all your gears and make sure there is nothing missing from them or if any are broken.

 

[NHerron]

Well my brand new OEM tensioner is leaking, so I guess while replacing that I could check the sprockets. Everything is brand new down there except for the oil pump sprocket, crank sprocket and gears.

Anybody know a way to get the oil pump sprocket off without the balance shaft trick? I could probably zip it off with an impact but I want to be able to torque it back down later..

 

[YZFR1]

I saw something similar on one of the blown engines i took apart, that i purchased with a car. It was rubbing the very outside of the belt on the timing cover, when i took everything apart and took a harder look, i noticed the tensioner pulley bolt was ready to come out all on its own. So, i guess that made the whole timing belt shift forward and make a small whole in the timing belt cover.

 

[NHerron]

Ok still looking for more suggestions, thanks so far but I'm still not concrete yet. I took off the auto tensioner and the belt. The crank timing plate looked awfully shiny as if it was pushing the belt over. I got the idea maybe it was slightly tweaked so I took a blunt, semi rounded edge and tapped it back toward the engine.

Question, what guides the belt to stay centered? I think it is the tensioner pulley and the oil pump sprocket so by modifying the timing plate, that won't cause problems later right?

Took a pic of the timing belt showing that it's centered. The 2nd pic shows the red marking still left on the flat but not the teeth. You can also see little tiny hairs (Ha Bill Cosby) fraying off the side but not much

 

[NHerron]

Well I just wanted to update this thread, as I know how much I hate stumbling upon a thread that is unresolved.

Weirdest thing, and I don't exactly understand. As shown in above posts, the wear was on the OUTSIDE (drivers side) of the belt. I noticed one day that the inside (passenger side) of the upper timing cover has been making contact with the belt/gears. But the wear is on the INSIDE (passenger side), not the outside.

I guess I was begging for problems, because the upper cover was not exactly tightly bolted. The bolt holes for the cover were stripped out and I could only tighten the cover slightly, so I imagine it moved around a bit. I'm Heli-coiling the cover sometime this week.

Anyway, if anyone cares to elaborate on how this happened, I'm all ears .

 

[007jimmy]

It's really easy to bend the plates that hold that cover on. I'm running no cover at the moment but that's because I just serviced everything and replaced my Belt with a gates belt. I'd look into getting the rubber gasket that goes around your cover because that about the thickness of clearance you have between the timing cover and the backing plates.

 

[NHerron]

Yeah, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the lower cover. Just the upper cover was moving around a bit since it wasn't bolted on tight enough. It's just strange the way the belt was wearing vs where the upper cover was contacting the belt/gears. Completely opposite..