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16v Timing Belt Alignment

Harlard

Hurlurd?Harland?Bueller?
300+ Club
Joined
May 11, 2007
Location
Niketown, OR
Hi all, happy week 3 of social distancing!


For any of youse running a +16v setup, particularly of the Yoshifab variety with a Gates T252 belt: My timing belt is currently fairly misaligned, currently running way forward at the crank sprocket to the point of pushing against the front washer.


I have re-tensioned the belt to make sure it was not an overtightening issue but the belt still rides forward. I plan on checking that the cam gears and idler pulley are properly seated. Currently there is no visual wobble on any of them and the pulley itself has no play or undue noise.



If there are any other suggestions please do let me know.
 
I have not looked at the Yoshifab parts, but when I had a b230 with a 16v head the belt stayed in one line. Had a tensioner from a Golf diesel of some sort I think, maybe that helped keep it in line. It has walls to keep the belt in.
<a href='https://www.bildtagg.se/bild/te2j8ehssblpc1bekjlx1h' target='_blank'><IMG src='https://www.bildtagg.se/file/thumb/te2j8ehssblpc1bekjlx1h' /></a>

On the other hand I ran 16v spockets on a normal 8v (bought wrong belt, refused to acknowledge it) and that belt kept creeping forward. No walls on the normal 8v tensioner.
 
Is the belt running forward on the cam pulleys also?

Seems like the only thing that would force the belt forward would be the tensioner pulley since it has outer walls on it.

16vtiming2.jpg

(pic from Yoshifab's site)
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. The belt is being pushed by the back guide of the tensioner and that pushes it against the front washer, which is causing the belt itself to fray. I will try a different washer and a 1.8 16V tensioner to check whether things get back in line. some more.

After talking to Josh he noted that the slight misalignment is normal and that it's better to check tension by twisting the belt instead of solely relying on the tension indicator on the tensioner itself.
 
Chatted with Josh some. Says the cause for the belt to jam itself to the front belt guide at the crank is excessive tension. Hopefully a new belt and more judicious application of tension resolves it.

Just turned the engine over by hand. The timing belt skipped a tooth on the exhaust side. I think the valves are fine. Fingers crossed.
 
I also have trouble setting tension by rotating the tensioner clockwise, per instructions for an ALH block. Doing it this way results in the tang of the tensioner shearing off. It seems to work better counterclockwise, but now I'm second guessing myself.
 
I also have trouble setting tension by rotating the tensioner clockwise, per instructions for an ALH block. Doing it this way results in the tang of the tensioner shearing off. It seems to work better counterclockwise, but now I'm second guessing myself.

Yeah, those tensioners can only be set going one direction. Otherwise you're trying to use a torsion spring in reverse, which is a huge no-no.
 
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