Resolved Oil Pump Sprocket Timing Issues

[nad1]

Okay, I know this topic has been beaten to death a dozen times, but I've read through all of the threads and can't seem to find anyone with my issue.

I bought this car, running and driving fine. Only problem was the timing tensioner was chattering really bad, so I decided to change the tensioner pulley, idler, hydro tensioner, belt, etc. This car still has the balance shaft belt attached, so I'm assuming it has balance shafts still.

Problem I'm having, is I've tried both methods described by VFAQ to time the oil pump sprocket, and neither are working. The pulley rotates freely, but when the timing mark is placed at the 12 o'clock position, it just stays there. It doesn't fall one way or the other. I've rotated it multitple times and tried it over and over, and it won't do anything.

So next I tried pulling the balance shaft bolt on the rear of the block so I could stick a screwdriver in there. My buddy was helping me, and he had at least 6" of the screwdriver in there, and I slowly turned the oil pump sprocket, but the screwdriver never had any resistance on it and never moved at all.

So what I'm wondering, is could someone maybe have removed the rear balance shaft, but not the front? Or maybe the shaft bearings fell off and are laying in the oil pan?

Like I said before, when I bought the car, it had CLEAN oil, and ran and drove fine. No excessive vibration or strange noises other than the timing tensioner pulley.

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction, I've got the belt on right now, but I don't want to put everything back together until I'm sure that I'm not missing something here. I'd hate to start it up and have issues, and have to take it back apart again.

ALSO, the motor is in the car, and I have no intentions of pulling it to do a BSE, as I'm sure that's going to be the first suggestion....

Please help me before I go crazy trying to figure this out!

 

[BogusSVO]

Was the small front BS belt installed when you pulled the timing cover? If not You may has an "in car" BSE done.

Front belt removed, front shaft is just there. the rear shaft removed, and a stubby shaft installed.

 

[nad1]

Yes. The belt and all the balance shaft components are on the front still.

 

[BogusSVO]

Something is not adding up then.

Try a longer screw driver in the rear BS alignment hole.

Or the In car BS was done, then someone down the line had a shop install a timing belt, and the shop saw the small front BS belt was missing and installed it too.

 

[nad1]

Yeah, I've been beating my head on the wall for days over this. I'm half tempted to pull the motor and do a bs shaft elimination but I really don't want to go through all that. I'm just afraid to put it back together as is and have something else go wrong. The screwdriver we used is almost a foot long and it didn't hit anything unless we put it at an angle, and even then turning the oil pump sprocket didn't affect its position.

Well I guess this is what I get for trusting my buddy to feel around with the screwdriver in the balance shaft hole. Might I add that he is an ASE certified mechanic, and has done more timing belts than I care to count....

....But, I decided to check it again myself today after I got the belt put on, and sure enough, I can put the screwdriver in about 4" with all the marks lined up, and it only goes in about 1-1.5" when I go 180* from that. So apparently I got lucky, and timed it right.

Now I feel like an idiot.