How do these timing marks look, and crank pulley alignment question

[evilhomer]

First the crank pulley, with all 4 bolts hand tight I can wiggle the pulley left and right which throws the timing mark off. Here's some pics of how much it moves, should I care, is this normal?





Here's the rest of the timing marks, okay that the intake cam that much off? It's 16 links away.







If I wiggle the crank pulley the other direction and align, the cam sprocket ends up here. I'm guessing since I'm not an entire tooth off it doesn't matter because I can't adjust the belt any less than that.

[Ian1006]

You should be able to get it perfect. Just did it myself and it took 2-3 tries but it will be lined up perfect.

What I do is rotate the crank back one tooth, route the belt from the cam all around then put crank back where it is supposed to be and it lines up and takes the slack out. There is a YouTube video that shows it pretty well but on an engine out of car by and older gent

[Ian1006]

Tighten the crank pulley to get rid of the slop or you are just guessing.
Did you mark crank gear teeth after taking the pulleynoff? That helps a lot too

[rocket1420]

The cam marks don't have to line up with those arrows. There just has to be 15 1/2 teeth between the notches on the cams themselves.



I know what you mean about the crank pulley play, but I put all four bolts in and then got it centered. You should definitely be able to get those marks perfect, and yes it does matter.

[walky_talky20]

Don't pull your hair out. You're fine. It doesn't have to be "perfect". There is slop in stuff.

Slop in the crank damper pulley bolts.
Slop in the crank damper pulley itself (it is internally bonded with rubber, which can twist/deform some amount).
Slop in the cam chain adjuster (at rest with no oil pressure, the intake camshaft will end up somewhere between 0 and 20 degrees of advance).
Slop in a rubber belt.

It's not a laser alignment. It's a rubber toothed belt. Just make sure you are on the right tooth. That is - be within less than a half-tooth of perfect and you're good. That said, you will error on the side of "advanced". As the belt wears in a little and load is added to the belt, it will retard slightly. So when you set the crank at TDC, I will expect a 1.8T to show the camshaft mark to be just slightly ahead of the TDC mark on the valve cover. That is, slightly clockwise. About a 1/4 tooth ahead is very normal. Yours looks fine.

The only adjustment you can possibly do is to jump it forward or backward 1 tooth. So let's see what that looks like:



Looks like you're good.

[Chemmie]

It's not a laser alignment. It's a rubber toothed belt. Just make sure you are on the right tooth. That is - be within less than a half-tooth of perfect and you're good...

...Looks like you're good.

Just going to quote this as it's the Truth.

[old guy]

For future reference when changing out timing belts. Clicky click®. Old thread but still relevant.

[AudiTuner1187]

It's possible to get them perfect because the sprocket pops off the cam. A crank lock bolt is better than lining marks up. Then u can check your marks up top. I bet they are both off by even amount. Like it was previously said, prolly not a problem but, very possible to get it perfect. Did you just change the belt?

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[Bmase]

I count the teeth from the belt taken of its 71 or 73 teeth can't remember what number but from cam marking clock wize to crank marking also mark it with a paint marker and transfer it to the new belt. kind of like extra insurance

[walky_talky20]

It's possible to get them perfect because the sprocket pops off the cam. A crank lock bolt is better than lining marks up. Then u can check your marks up top. I bet they are both off by even amount. Like it was previously said, prolly not a problem but, very possible to get it perfect. Did you just change the belt?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Audizine mobile app

The sprocket is keyed on a 1.8T. There is no fine tuning. The only adjustment is to go forward or backward one entire tooth of the belt. His timing is perfect.

[rocket1420]

The sprocket is keyed on a 1.8T. There is no fine tuning. The only adjustment is to go forward or backward one entire tooth of the belt. His timing is perfect.

There is definitely some adjustment in the crank pulley. Not much, but it does move a bit before you tighten it down. I don't know what AudiTuner1187 was trying to say.