naluloa

Good morning,

I’m in the middle of doing my timing belt and water pump. I get to my timing belt and behold… my passenger and driver cam gears are both lined up to the T timing marks, awesome!

But my crank gear (not pulley) notch/indent is not under the little nipple on the engine.

So I’m wondering, how has my car gone the last tens of thousands of miles out of time, unless I’m missing something.

Also, the notch on the crank pulley was not aligned with the 0 next to the 10 on the crank gear cover. I’ve attached pictures of the current dilemma. In the picture I put the crank gear cover where it would be screwed in to show that the pulley notch is not aligned to the 0

Is it okay for me to take off the belt (so that the cam gears stay put) and only move the crank gear to align the notch with the nipple?

FrankT

The "T" mark is 50* ATDC this is the stable cam position, the belt gets removed and replace so as the cams do not rotate on there own.
The small dimple at the crank also shows 50* mark.

TDC is the "I" mark and 0* at the crank.

naluloa

Hi Frank, so I ended up cutting the timing belt and then rotated the crank gear and cam gears. Right now, the indent on the crank gear itself is aligned with the nipple. If I fit the crank pulley on, the notch on it is aligned with “0”. Both cam gears are aligned with the “T” on their respective back plates.

You said that the cam gears aligning with “T” denotes 50* ATDC, so then all I have to do right now to proceed with installation is put the crank pulley back on and rotate the crank 50* clockwise so that the crank pulley groove aligns with the no. 2 timing idler (which sounds like the 50* ATDC “mark” for the crank)? Then I can proceed with installation of the timing belt?

I was confused because I thought all I had to do to set timing was align the cam gears with “T” and align the crank gear with the nipple and the crank pulley with “0”. But it seems like even on the VVTI (my car) version, the “l” next to the “T” is the true TDC for the cam gears, correct?

FrankT

Correct
In my post above, I have attached the pertinent factory service manuals for your reference.

Good luck

naluloa

Hey Frank, I actually used those attachments prior to my last reply in order to deduce the whole resetting my crank gear to 50* on its own so thank you for that!

Also figured I give an update to this thread. Didn’t finish putting everything back together but I did put the timing belt on and pulled the pin after double and triple checking that the marks returned to the proper place after two revolutions of the crank gear.

Gonna finish putting everything together and I’ll update again after I crank the keys in the ignition!

Edit: Also just noticed that in my first set of pictures, the crank gear was already in the correct position! LOL, now I feel silly for chasing my tail just to end up in the same position.

naluloa

Just giving another update.

Car starts up and keeps running as long as I give it gas (revving to 4k) but as soon as I stop forcing the throttle to open, it dies.

Idle is not possible unless the MAF is unplugged.

Let it idle without the MAF for several seconds and the only codes that showed up were related to intake temp and mass air flow. (gee I wonder why)

Sprayed alcohol all over to find if there were any leaks as the only issues we could think of were air or fuel related. My fuel pump is old but it seemed like there was plenty of fuel to go around as it smelled like a lawnmower was running.

Hence, as soon as alcohol was sprayed near the base of the intake manifold, the engine started smoothing out. Bingo. Leads back to the intake manifold gasket (FEL-PRO) which I accidentally tore/ripped while putting that 2-ton intake manifold back on.

Gonna go and take the intake manifold off, replace the torn gasket, and pray I don’t damage the new one when I put the intake manifold back on.

For anyone replacing the intake manifold gasket or thinking about changing it while working on something else, buy the MAHLE original one or the one that’s black and has those two stubs on it. I don’t recommend the FEL-PRO one as it tore amongst the intake manifold scuffle. Thought about reusing mine but ah I’ll just cross my fingers lol.

LeX2K

Thanks for the update. Fail-Pro makes some grade A junk (at one time maybe they were good) I avoid them at all cost. Mahle is a good brand I haven't had any issues.

naluloa

No problem, just want to bring closure to the thread (like people should lol).

But on the FEL-PRO quality: Yup, when I first took the gaskets out of the box I just held it and thought to myself “is this cardboard or what”. Apparently it’s graphite impregnated fiber or something. Here’s a pic of the new replacement for the other replacement, and the old one that was originally being replaced lol.

Now that I’ve held the two, I’m debating putting the old ones on again.

LeX2K

Why not get OEM? Doubt it's that expensive.

naluloa

Honestly just didn’t have time (took two days off from work already, after already working on it for a week and since I live in Hawaii, the parts wouldn’t come in for a day or two with expedited shipping.

This Fel-Pro is the only thing they had in stock at autozone. Probably should’ve tried Oreilly or Napa before I bought it but eh I did it already.

naluloa

Coming to a conclusion on this, but not out of the woods yet! When I ran the car without the MAF and when I was running it via the throttle body, no codes were on the dash, no lights either. Well, besides the MAF related lights. P0110 and P0100 I believe.

The car now idles fine, all the way through the coolant bleeding process, however, the VSC and VSC Off lights are on in the dash.

The radiator is also smoking (coolant) from near the radiator cap and around that close area.

I’m not quite sure what the cause for those things are but in addition, the radiator fan has not turned out in the whole 7ish minutes that I had the car running in my garage. It’s 70 something degrees here and no breeze so I’m really worried about driving it as no radiator fan after 7 minutes idling has me worried that something is causing the radiator fans to not stay on.

I don’t know why the radiator fans won’t go on and VSC and VSC Off lights are on. Still only getting MAF codes and the temp gauge in the car is pegged at just below halfway which was normal prior to the timing belt and water pump changeout. There is a vacuum leak at the top of the manifold where a hose connects, but why would the fans not be on? and would a small vacuum leak cause the VSC and VSC Off lights to come on?

naluloa

At long last!

I took care of the split hose on top of the intake manifold. That hose goes to the power steering pump, apparently to increase idle while turning at low/no speed. Used some silicone tape for that and clamped the hose onto the nipple real tight.

The radiator fans also turn on (both of the) when the car gets to 213F. So I guess I didnt have the car on long enough or maybe the hood being open kept the coolant cool enough to not need fans.

The car idles like it did before the big job. Well, maybe 100 RPMs higher, not sure why though. I also have a lean code (P0171) and I’m guessing I have a vacuum leak somewhere still.

Gonna post some screenshots from the cars OBD2 information that I set up.

Happy to say that I think this job is complete. I’m able to go to work again haha, jeez.

P.S. there’s a low grinding sound when I start to go from a stop, maybe around 5-15 mph. Happens every time. Could it be from the trans fluid I drained during the radiator removal? Maybe I have to top off the trans fluid?

Anyway, here’s those OBD2 screenshots:

Idle after I fixed the vacuum leak caused by the split hose, before I took it on the first drive with the new components:




Idle after coming back from driving about 10 miles, mixed freeway, highway, parking lot driving:



After giving a little beans at 40 mph to 60 mph, hence the ~60% engine load:

naluloa

So after wondering and wondering what it could be. I have a hunch. While I was replacing things, taking things apart and putting them back together, one of the coil packs on cylinder bank 1 wouldn't go back on for some reason. The reason: the bolt wouldn't catch the threads in the valve cover. So I Toyota FIPG'd the coil pack to the valve cover hoping it would seal lol. I'm thinking that the seal wasn't good and that the bolt not being able to thread all the way in to secure the coil pack down, is causing my leakby into the combustion chamber. I would think that my spark plug wouldn't allow any air past, and maybe it isn't and the unsealed coil pack isn't the issue, but I'm going to try.

TellyLockman

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Congrats, it seems you have done a lot of work

naluloa

So based on information I've read, my P0171 is being caused by a vacuum leak, which is what I'll be exploring once again. Gonna buy brake cleaner and spray it while I'm idling. I have a suspicion that it's my PCV valve hose, or air box hose. I pray that it's one of those or some other hose, because if it's not, then I'll have to start checking off MAF, fuel pump, and intake manifold gasket (once again).

Apparently 20%+ STFT and LTFT at idle can be caused by vacuum leaks, but people have also noted that aftermarket intakes, bad MAFs, and fuel pumps can also be the cause.

Last time I looked at my fuel pump it looked REALLY old so I wouldn't be surprised if it was that lol.