Out of time

Hello new here I have a 1996 limited and just changed timing belt and water pump when taking apart I noticed that the left and right came were in line with their marks the crankshaft was not but it had been running fine so I'm not sure if I should go on and put it back together or what to do any help??

 

What makes you think that the crankshaft pulley is not at its proper position?

 

The mark on crank case gear with the timing mark is like an inch away from it's mark

 

I thought I had a pic on me but I do not I will post one in the next few hours sorry

 

Depends on the cycle. Keep turning the crank and they may line up. Not sure how many revolutions it takes. Also, line up the crank mark first and look at the cam marks. The cam marks can be a little off and make the crank look out of whack.

Also, you may have slipped a tooth. I slipped a tooth once and the engine ran "fine" but sounded differently in a small way during acceleration. Stayed like that for a year or so. After doing a belt change, finding the belt was off and putting the new belt back on right, it went back to normal sounding.

The new belts should come with markings on them for the cam and crank positions. Use those marks and align everything. Buy only Mitsuboshi belts.

 

and here i was thinking I am about to see a super clean very old 4Runner...

 

I didn’t go off the timing mark I went off the dimple on the gear. Worked fine

 

Yes it is the dimple that you should be aligning the marker to and not the tooth. At 90 degrees (I think) there is another dimple on the on the body of the crankshaft timing pulley. I don't see this in the picture but perhaps it is covered by grime. For a new timing belt that has its marker lines still intact, the main shaft's line on the timing belt should line up with this second dimple.

 

I have no markings on the timing belt.i did make sure the cam shaft timing marks were lined up correctly and I used a bunch of clamps going around it to keep it in place

 

Since the old belt is out and you don't have any markings on the new belt, it becomes more challenging to install the new one. Install the belt with the three timing markers (two cam shaft & one main pulley) at their proper position. Once completely installed, you'll need to manually turn the crankshaft (clockwise) and make sure that all three timing markers line up again at each full revolution.

 

thank you very much I may do that tonight

 

Note that when I say install, I mean a complete install (with tensioner installed and its pin pulled). The downside to this is that if you need to re-position the belt, you'll need to undo everything and compress the tensioner again before re-install.

 

oh boy don't I know when I get the belt off can I just spin the crank untill it lines up with the other marks

 

I am sorry but I don't follow what you're asking.