where are the timing marks on the camshaft pulleys?

[danny7481]

i cant seem to find any kind of mark to set the camshaft pulleys in time. the crankshaft is marked but the camshafts dont seem to be. please help. thanks.

 

[Locke]

notches on the outer rim of the sprockets

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

there's a little notch on each. You have to look real close, each notch should be copper colored so they should stand out as apose to the original color of the gears.

 

[BISHILVR]

Here you will see where I added some white to the marks on these cam gears, note though that the exhaust side cam gear is a tooth clockwise and should'nt be, otherwise your setup should resemble the picture.

 

[BISHILVR]

Oh no! I just realised that you might be talking about the 420a? Oops.

 

[danny7481]

Oh no! I just realised that you might be talking about the 420a? Oops.

yeah, the 2.0 non turbo engine. i looked and didnt see any notches on the outter rim on the pulleys, ill check again. are the dowel pins suppose to be straight up like that?

 

[BISHILVR]

I'm not really sure on the 420a

 

[Blackmitzu]

there should be a mark on each came gear that line up in the middle of the two gears.

 

[DSMcrazy3]

When the dowel pins are up on the gears the markings being described should be at the 3 o'clock(intake) and 9 o'clock(exhaust).

In the pic they are represented by tiny white lines. (I assume they aren't lined up 100% correct so both could be displayed more clearly.)

 

[adammethner05]

My cam gears had green marks on them so I could put them back into time with ease...i figured everybody's had those...

 

[DSMcrazy3]

Nope, the ones I have seen are basically the color of raw metal(silver) as if a bit of the gear was grinded away in that spot. In your case someone before you probably painted the marks to make lining them up easier, which really isn't a bad idea at all.

 

[danny7481]

there kinda diry, when i clean them up im sure ill be able to see them. now they need to line up to each other PEFECTLY?? exactly 3 oclock and 9 oclock? and the dowel pins need to point straight up? thanks.

 

[adammethner05]

If you don't line these up perfectly, your car will probably run like crap. Too far off means the possibility of bent valves, so go as perfect as perfect gets with timing, unless you have after market cam gears that are meant for that sort of thing.

 

[danny7481]

i found the notches, they are pretty hard to see/find. when i line them up the dowel pin on the intake cam is facing down while the exhaust cam is facing up. does that matter??

 

[ereckerdeet]

you can try using a wire brush to clean up the gears so the notches are easier to see...putting some paint on the notch marks will also simplify things!

the dowels need to face upwards, and if you look at the sprockets they should have a notch at 90deg and 270deg. you should be able to lay a ruler across all 4 marks and line up, if not your timing WILL be off! the exhaust cam will probably need to be pulled back a tooth to get it to line up, thats how mine was at least.

Once you get the timing belt and everything together, make sure you rotate the engine 6 full revolutions, and check ALL the timing marks again, as well as double check the belt tension.

Good luck!
~Eric

 

[adammethner05]

On mine the one pin faced down and the other faced up. As far as I know it's supposed to be that way since my car ran fine. I was thinking about that when I redid the timing belt on my car, then I realized that it's not really important at all to pay attention to. As long as the marks on the cam gears line up, everything should be fine. But yes, if you are working with the 420a (I know nothing about 4g63s), one will face up and one will face down. Eric, are you referring to the 420a, or the 4g63?

 

[1PhatACR]

With the valve cover off, just make sure that the holes in the top of the cams are facing up!!

 

[danny7481]

On mine the one pin faced down and the other faced up.

thanks, mine is exactly like that.

 

[Blackmitzu]

There should also be an arrow with the words "up" on each cam gear. I did a timing belt on a 2.4 dodge caravan last week at work and those cam gears had arrows and said up on them. It is basically the same motor, the cam gears are even reversible, one side said 2.4 and the other said 2.0 . I take it the same gears are used for the 2.0 non turbo eclipses, talons, neons, etc.

 

[danny7481]

on the 420a the dowel pin on the intake cam gear faces down while the dowel pin on the exhaust gear faces up. not that it really matters, if you dont take the bolts out, you wont see the pins anyway.