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1G Timing belt walk ...

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TK9er

Proven Member
168
16
Jun 1, 2014
lincoln, Nebraska
I'm not sure if timing belt walk is what I have, but after a quick search its the closest thing I can find. My engine is fresh off an over haul from a good machine shop. I have never really ran this engine except for a really short "see if it can run" experiment before i took it to the shop. I remember then that the timing belt looked chaffed on the cylinder head side, but after a little looking, the flange on the crank was damaged. I thought that was the issue. when putting the timing belt on the fresh engine it still looks really close to the cylinder head side. This makes me really nervous.

What I have done so far:
-Since I have a bunch of spare parts laying around, I replaced the motor mount that carries the tensioning pulley. This did seem to help. It no longer hangs over the cam sprockets.
-I have also verified the auto tensioner had the correct protrusion about a 1000 times... I read that this is a major cause of belt walk.

I'm adding some pictures to help show my issue. It doesn't seem to be rubbing on anything. Any help would be great. Is it an issue is should be worried about??
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Man it looks fine. Is it touching the water pump? The timing plate and the tensioner pulley have a rib on the back so it keeps the belt true.
Here is mine.
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It is not touching the water pump. I was worried about that too. When i replaced the mount i didn't see any scaring on the pump at all. Well, that is good news to me. I figured I was being a bit paranoid, but better safe than sorry! Thanks again!
 
If someone times the motor with the tensioner in the 6 o'clock position, mistakenly on a 6 bolt, then it will touch the water pump. Yours looks fine to me and i have 3 on their stands. If you still feel iffy, keep asking and show what part was worrying you which looked like the gears. It looks fine. Rotate it and make sure it stays there, I'm betting it will stay.
Here is a 2nd one we have on a stand.
I don't have the tensioner set on it yet.
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To check the tension, reinstalled the pin for the tensioner and remove the tool or back it out. Rotate the crank at least 6 times. The pin should be able to slide in and out easily. If it's too tight, tension is not correct. Once you have it where the pin slides in and out with ease, rotate again and let it sit for an hour or so and recheck.
 
I’ve had a issue where the belt was riding too close to the inner edge of the cam gears. It was due to a worn tensioner arm bushing. It caused the arm to slightly pull off center when tensioning the belt. I couldn’t source new so I purchased a used unit but it was in better shape so I used it. It moved my belt a few mm back into the center, it wasn’t much but it was better to me. Just putting the thought out there because it is a wear part. Here is a picture of what I mean.
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It may not look that bad but the arm did have this odd wobble when putting it on the post. The “used” arm did not have this play. Hope you greased your arm up good. I didn’t find anything in mine which was probably why it was scored up
 
I’ve had a issue where the belt was riding too close to the inner edge of the cam gears. It was due to a worn tensioner arm bushing. It caused the arm to slightly pull off center when tensioning the belt. I couldn’t source new so I purchased a used unit but it was in better shape so I used it. It moved my belt a few mm back into the center, it wasn’t much but it was better to me. Just putting the thought out there because it is a wear part. Here is a picture of what I mean.
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It may not look that bad but the arm did have this odd wobble when putting it on the post. The “used” arm did not have this play. Hope you greased your arm up good. I didn’t find anything in mine which was probably why it was scored up

Good diagnosis!! Lube is a must there. Wonder if tbelt being too tight could be another contributing factor???
 
Good diagnosis!! Lube is a must there. Wonder if tbelt being too tight could be another contributing factor???

Definitely can as that will exacerbate any play already present in the system, like a worn tensioner arm bushing.
 
If someone times the motor with the tensioner in the 6 o'clock position, mistakenly on a 6 bolt, then it will touch the water pump. Yours looks fine to me and i have 3 on their stands. If you still feel iffy, keep asking and show what part was worrying you which looked like the gears. It looks fine. Rotate it and make sure it stays there, I'm betting it will stay.
Here is a 2nd one we have on a stand.
I don't have the tensioner set on it yet.
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Yeah, I've rotated it a bunch and it seems to be saying still. I think i'm gonna send it.
 
Could the large washer behind the crank sprocket (the one with timing mark) be on backwards?
I checked this and according to the manual, it is on the correct way. I was worried about this too.
 
To check the tension, reinstalled the pin for the tensioner and remove the tool or back it out. Rotate the crank at least 6 times. The pin should be able to slide in and out easily. If it's too tight, tension is not correct. Once you have it where the pin slides in and out with ease, rotate again and let it sit for an hour or so and recheck.[/QUO
Just curious, what is the protrusion on your tensioner rod? It looks a bit too large, but it might be camera angle effect.
It's right at 0.15 which is the low side for the allowance.
"
(6) Rotate the crankshaft two complete turns clockwise and leave it as is for about 15 minutes. Then, measure the auto tensioner protrusion “A” (distance between the tensioner arm and auto tensioner body) to ensure ,.+ that it is up to specification. Standard value: 3.8-4.5 mm (.15-.18 in.) If it is out of specification, repeat steps (6) through (1) until the specified value is obtained."
 
I’ve had a issue where the belt was riding too close to the inner edge of the cam gears. It was due to a worn tensioner arm bushing. It caused the arm to slightly pull off center when tensioning the belt. I couldn’t source new so I purchased a used unit but it was in better shape so I used it. It moved my belt a few mm back into the center, it wasn’t much but it was better to me. Just putting the thought out there because it is a wear part. Here is a picture of what I mean.
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It may not look that bad but the arm did have this odd wobble when putting it on the post. The “used” arm did not have this play. Hope you greased your arm up good. I didn’t find anything in mine which was probably why it was scored up
I replaced the part that the arm goes on! It did help a bit. The bushing on the arm looked good though.
 
Well you feel better and you have a "spare" now. FWIW, I changed out one of ours also, as it felt a little loose. The 1st one I grabbed, was a 7 bolt, definitely not the correct arm, the 2nd one was a 6 bolt and I was at ease also after that. Good thing you lubed it, I put wheel bearing red grease in mine and on the tip of the arm.
I think you have this under control, congrats! :thumb:
 
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