Zacapp

I’m an adherent reader of this forum. After having read many posts on Timing belt replacement, I thought I could tackle it. I have a 2005 RX 330, with 55K on it and its time to replace the timing belt due to its age besides a waterpump leak. Started doing it y’day. I was able to replace the leaky water pump. when installing the Timing belt, first I positioned the dotted line on the crank gear and then on Right Camshaft pulley, for some reason, the solid yellow line on belt ends one tooth short! I tried few different ways of mounting the timing belt, I always end up one tooth off So to correct this issue, Do I need to rotate camshaft clockwise until the solid yellow line fits correctly, then using a camshaft tool, rotate back to align with timing marks?

I have not seen any posts that clearly mention this step. I would greatly appreciate yours suggestions to tackle this issue.

I’d like to thank gsscott2, speedkar99, rsen99,thomas1,Htownblue and especially ALCHEMIST(for his excellent writeup, which I’m following) and lot others who posted their suggestions and valuable comments.

smassey321

Start with the crank slightly counter clockwise before TDC. Then get the belt on all pulley marks and then rotate the crank gently clockwise until the slack is gone to confirm pulley/belt marks match marks on heads and block. Other tips include using large paper binders to hold the belt on the cams and putting the cover and harmonic balancer back on temporarily to assist with seeing the crank on 0. My crank marks did not line up perfectly with the block mark but once the harmomic balancer and cover were back on it was much easier to see to confirm the correct placement.

I did mine twice last year as the tensioner idler pulley started making noise shortly after I changed the belt.

Zacapp

smassey321, Thanks for the info. when belt marks are aligned on both camshafts, the dashed mark on the belt is one tooth off at crank. Also, tried your suggestion, but crank goes slightly off of TDC(clockwise, half tooth), after releasing the pin on the tensioner.

smassey321

Are you rotating the crank slightly clock wise to remove all slack? The tensioner is not needed to align. It just keeps everything from skipping when done.

Move all pulleys to a resting point before TDC. Clamp the belt to both cams on their pulley marks. Then rotate the crank counter clock wise until you can get on the pulley mark down there. Then finally remove the slack by rotating clock wise and see if the belt/pulley marks line up with the marks in the block and heads. I was not able to confirm the crank pulley mark with the block mark until I slipped on the cover and harmonic balancer and lined up the pulley timing notch with the 0 mark on the cover.


A mirror can help confirm the marks line up on the rear cam.

alchemist

iTrader: (1)

zacapp, make sure you are aligning belt without tensioner....not sure if you have your new tensioner on but do not pull pin to finalize install until everything is aligned. I agree with smassey's method, but I did everything clockwise instead. rotate around a couple times. sometimes, like on my camry it needs to be done before idlers installed then force idler in place....then add the tensioner. Did you buy new idler pulleys?

Zacapp

Thanks for suggestion. Yes, i bought timing belt kit(Aisin TKT-026). I tried installing belt anticlockwise as well as clockwise starting from Rear cam, the belts are aligned on both camshafts correctly, but at crank, the dashed line on belt is one tooth short, there is not much slack between front cam and crank, however there is slack between rear cam and crank . Always end up few degrees off TDC at crank. As you suggested, I will try installing idler after mounting the belt, I’m following your excellent writeup, will try Smassey’s method too. Thanks, Smassey and alchemist.

Zacapp

OK. It was a belt issue. As I failed to mount the belt correctly, I consulted a mechanic, according to him some times, spacing between some cogs on belt are not right. I bought a new TB from Toyota dealer and could mount correctly on third attempt. As many members in this forum have suggested, i had to rotate front cam pulley clockwise one tooth on get the belt on mark and then rotate in back to align with the timing cover mark, similarly with the rear cam. Crank and both cams were on mark after one complete rotation. However, harmonic balancer was as a degree or two off 0 mark on cover. Suv is running fine, its almost 100 miles with new TB and water pump, so far no error codes.

alchemist

iTrader: (1)

wow...good find. crazy especially since you had an Aisin belt originally!