# Timing issue



## OopsieDaisey (Jul 7, 2021)

Went to replace the water pump and timing belt. My belt didn't have the timing marks.... So I grabbed the sharpie and marked the belt on the fuel pump and cam. 

Anywho...fast forward 15 minutes. Went to start the car and heard a quick sound as soon as I turned the car over, then it never turned over. 

Car was out of time and only cranked for 3 seconds. Am I going crazy for thinking I bent a valve while I wait for the timing belt with the timing marks? And way to check without a complete over haul?


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## Maqcro1 (Apr 29, 2019)

OopsieDaisey said:


> Went to replace the water pump and timing belt. My belt didn't have the timing marks.... So I grabbed the sharpie and marked the belt on the fuel pump and cam.
> 
> Anywho...fast forward 15 minutes. Went to start the car and heard a quick sound as soon as I turned the car over, then it never turned over.
> 
> Car was out of time and only cranked for 3 seconds. Am I going crazy for thinking I bent a valve while I wait for the timing belt with the timing marks? And way to check without a complete over haul?


Don’t think I’ve ever marked my fuel pump belt before 😂 

all jokes aside why not turn the engine over by hand before cranking? I guess it depends how many teeth off you are.


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## Maqcro1 (Apr 29, 2019)

Also the crank should have a timing mark as well as the front and rear cam. Front cam lines up with locking tool and rear cam mark should be about 1 tooth higher.


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## OopsieDaisey (Jul 7, 2021)

Well, we marked the cam and fuel gears, so we thought it was in time. That'd why we didn't spun it.by hand first. There are no timing marks on the engine block, only a dot of paint on the gears.


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## Mr_Pat (Mar 7, 2021)

OopsieDaisey said:


> Well, we marked the cam and fuel gears, so we thought it was in time. That'd why we didn't spun it.by hand first. There are no timing marks on the engine block, only a dot of paint on the gears.


Do you have a Haynes or Chilton manual? There are timing marks on the engine. Just not as obvious as they used to be on cars.


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## OopsieDaisey (Jul 7, 2021)

Mr_Pat said:


> Do you have a Haynes or Chilton manual? There are timing marks on the engine. Just not as obvious as they used to be on cars.


I dont, Haynes manuals dont cover the 2.0L diesel. The only manual I found was $500 and five thousand pages long. I looked for timing marks on the engine and only found (what I believed was a timing mark) one on the crank. The engine doesn't have any marks, only casting marks for bolts and freeze plugs.


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## Mr_Pat (Mar 7, 2021)

@Snipesy any tips?


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

Belts have never come with timing marks.

Engines have always come with something on the block to align the crank..usually the head didn't have any marks but the cam sprocket would have an arrow that aligned with the top of the head.

4 cylinder motors.

Don't know what procedure they're using these days.

Alldata.com has $30 per year subscription for one car. Unless the price went up lately. It has everything you need to work on your car.

Chilton and Haynes manuals are $25 or maybe more these days. Found at any parts store.


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## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

Well, you may be in a world of hurt. You should probably pick up the timing belt tool which will let you lock your cam and crank in place. The cam is easy to lock in place because it snaps in. The crank mark should either be down or to the left (can't remember), but either way you are likely close now. If the crank mark is slightly out of place you can turn it backwards slightly (I did on mine when I did my belt 60k miles ago).

The tool was WELL worth the $40 cost because I felt very confident tugging and moving my belt around and know for certain it wouldn't be out of time. And my car started right up, there was no excessive cranking.



snowwy66 said:


> Belts have never come with timing marks.


Wut? They most certain do on CTD. How else are you going to know you are on correctly? The tooth count matters. Yes, the fuel pump doesn't have a timing position, but you still need to line up so tooth count between crank/pump and pump/cam is correct. Look at this picture below, you can clearly see 1 of the 3 yellow timing markers.


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

BDCCruze said:


> Well, you may be in a world of hurt. You should probably pick up the timing belt tool which will let you lock your cam and crank in place. The cam is easy to lock in place because it snaps in. The crank mark should either be down or to the left (can't remember), but either way you are likely close now. If the crank mark is slightly out of place you can turn it backwards slightly (I did on mine when I did my belt 60k miles ago).
> 
> The tool was WELL worth the $40 cost because I felt very confident tugging and moving my belt around and know for certain it wouldn't be out of time. And my car started right up, there was no excessive cranking.
> 
> ...


Must be new technology. And a new way.

I've installed 100s of belts back in the day and have no idea what you're talking about.

Back then. You lined everything up and didn't count teeth. And they didn't come with directional arrows or markings. You just slapped that baby on. Adjusted the tension. And drive till it broke 100k miles later. Repeat process.

Special tools weren't needed, either.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

The number of Subaru timing belts I've done have all had a number of timing marks on the belt, as well as all the gears.


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## Maqcro1 (Apr 29, 2019)

snowwy66 said:


> Belts have never come with timing marks.
> 
> Engines have always come with something on the block to align the crank..usually the head didn't have any marks but the cam sprocket would have an arrow that aligned with the top of the head.
> 
> ...


I have the online subscription but there is no mention for the 2.0 engine


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

MP81 said:


> The number of Subaru timing belts I've done have all had a number of timing marks on the belt, as well as all the gears.


Is Subaru still using the pancake motor?

They didn't have that back then but they were one of the easiest motors to do. You didn't need a manual to figure out their gear alignment. I don't think the job was more then 30 minutes back then.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Yes, they still use a flat four. I've done a belt on EJ25s, so a bit older, but especially with the 4-cam VVT ones, alignment is absolutely critical, as is using the timing tools because otherwise they'll spin out of alignment before you can get the belt on. It's a bit of a pain.


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## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

nevermind


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## TheRealHip (Sep 1, 2014)

I did mine. The pulleys and the belts had marks on them.


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