Timing Belt - half a tooth to a tooth advanced ok?

Turbobrick69 · Post by **Turbobrick69** » 03 Jun 2019, 12:11

Ok, so i just did a timing belt job on my 96 850 turbo, the timing belt was from ipd, i got it on, and the timing belt wouldnt want to go on, and the was some slack i pulled out by moving the crank, the cams are dead on, BUT now, the crank is about a half a tooth to a tooth advanced, i rolled over the car by hand, amd didnt feel any piston to valve contact, is it ok for the crank to be a little advanced? Or will i run into problems?

Post by **abscate** » 03 Jun 2019, 12:38

half a tooth will run fine, but it might code for cam position.

With the new belt on it isnt hard to slip a cam by a tooth, though, and get it right.

Turbobrick69 · Post by **Turbobrick69** » 03 Jun 2019, 14:12

What about an entire tooth on the crank? And would it run rough? The cams are dead on, but itd still throw a CEL for the cam positioning? When u say get it right what do u mean? Like fix it quick?

tardcart · Post by **tardcart** » 03 Jun 2019, 17:34

of course you have to fix it. or be sure its right to sleep at night. make sure you can see the crank marks, dont try short cuts like leaving the balancer on making it hard to see in there. One tooth on the crank is a lot since the gear has so few. say for instance there are 18 (just a guess) that would mean each tooth is 20 degrees. Its hard to get everything lined up. take the tensioner off, compress it slowly and dont put it back on till you have the belt on the gears with no slop in the front. you have to put the top cam cover on to check before the tensioner goes back on. to put the top cam cover on and off you have to disconnect the fuel line to the rail or you will be bending everything and not having fun.

Post by **erikv11** » 04 Jun 2019, 11:51

You don't need to remove the balancer to see the marks. You can and it makes it easier, but you don't need to. Hundreds of DIY mechanics have done Volvo timing jobs with leaving the balancer on. Get a strong flashlight in there, that helps quite a bit.

For consistency, don't try to judge how many teeth by what's happening at the crank. Always put the crank dead on the mark, then look at the cam gears and if they are on/off the marks up top. It's good practice for the crank to always be dead on for any timing work.