Groves in Lower Timing Belt Cover

[SkyGrowsCold]

While removing the cylinder head from my car and prepping to replace all my timing belt componets I noticed that my timing belt cover is grooved up pretty bad. Up top is grooved from the pulley and lower from the timing belt its self. The pullies feel tight and the timing cover bolts were tight when I removed it. It also looks like the last person who removed the cover did not put the bolts back in where they belonged as I found a few that they had put washers on to take up the extra space between the bolt and cover. Does anyone have any ideas what could have caused this so before I put all the new timing componants on I can either address the issue or possibly find out if this happened prior to the PO installing the belt before I got the car. You can read its history since I've owned it in my journal entries for reference.

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[nek]

Thats how mine way, I just put it back on after I did my rebuild.
There is nothing you can really do about it and my belt lasted 50k without breaking so I dont think its to big a problem.

 

[MichaelSuch]

The long groove is from the AC belt being too loose at one point (both of my dsms have grooves from this. I don't run AC so I keep the belt off). The one around the water pump is probably from the cover not being fastened down completely. The waterpump grooves look fresh. He probably switched the bolts around because they are all different length. The bolts around the waterpump area should be fairly short. Always keep an eye on the ac belt if you run one though. They can come into the timing belt cover and shred your t-belt. I would just make sure that when you assemble it that the water pump pulley is not hitting the cover, it could have happened before you owned the car, but the marks look fresh.

 

[SkyGrowsCold]

Well that makes me feel a little better. I do not have AC as that was all removed so these may have happened prior to removal. That's unfortunate there is nothing to prevent this from happening but I will probably still look for a replacement cover. Thanks for the responses.