Timing belt tensioner help

[m1nd64m3]

When you guys do your timing belt, where do the 2 holes on the face of the tensioner pulley end up? I've done the timing belt job multiple times and this is the first time I've not been able to get the two holes on the top, instead the are on to the lower right of the pulley. I uploaded a pic of it.

I'm using the screwdriver in the hole method of rotating the pulley like I've done every other time without issue. In the past I'd always rotate the pulley clockwise, but this time the two holes were to the left of the center bolt and wouldn't go any further up. I looked closer at the vfaq and it says to go counter-clockwise with the pulley, so that's what I did and the picture above is the result.

What stood out to me as weird when I pulled the timing covers off was that the pulley was just like it is now, with the two holes to the lower right, and I'm almost certain it's never had the timing belt replaced since it's not even at 60k miles yet.

The belt is tight, everything lines up perfect, and I rotated it a bunch and waited the 15 minutes and did it again to make sure they still line up. The car is a 97.

 

[SrKegler]

That's one of the differences between a 6 bolt and a 7 bolt. 6 bolts you rotate clockwise. Holes end up around 10 & 12. 7 Bolts you rotate counter clockwise and end up around 3 & 5.

 

[m1nd64m3]

Thanks! I didn't even think of that, my last car had a 6-bolt in it so that's why I was so used to doing it this way.

 

[bryanwheat]

You really need the tensioner tool with the pulleys that you turn counter clockwise to tension the belt. When you go to torque the bolt it will turn the pulley back and you will lose your tension. The actual location of the holes in the pulley is going to be different on every engine because of slight differences in setups such as decked heads and blocks, different brand belts and pulleys and so on.

 

[m1nd64m3]

I tension it up with the edge of a flathead screwdriver in one of the holes pushing the pulley into place, then at the same time I tighten the bolt, so it doesn't move back at all.