Valve adjustment & Timing Belt

Well, i attempted to adjust my valves today. The #1 intake valves were tapping. I adjusted them to .007" on exhaust and .006 on Intake valves. Got it all together, crank it up, and the damn thing is twice as loud as it used to be, except now other valves are joining along in the tapping. It was my first valve adjustment on a street car, so i guess you live you learn. My only other experience was on a Winston Cup motor. But anyhow, i got some guys coming to help me out soon. My question is this, When i was adjusting the valves, i got a little bit of oil on the timing belt. Is this gonna weaken the belt structure, and how can you really tell if a timing belt is bad. Does it crack and dry rot like normal belts? the car has got 131000 miles on it and i got it at 112000 and have no idea if the belt was changed at 90000.

You don't visually inspect a timing belt, you should automatically replace that & the water pump every 90K or less!!!

Did you adjust the valves while cold & @ TDC, using the firing order?

Like i said, i don't know if it was changed at 90,000 miles or not. I got the car at 112,000 miles. Thats why I was wondering if there was anyway you could tell. I adjusted the valves cold, and i think at TDC.....though it was hard to see the crank pulley mark.....I made sure that the profiles of the cam were not on the rocker arms though...i did go in the firing order....But i think the TDC messed me up.

You need to rotate the engine & adjust 1 cylinder at a time. Setting each piston @ TDC before adjusting, otherwise it's useless! If you can't see the marks, remove the distributor cap, watch the rotor as you turn - @ TDC the rotor will be pointing to that plug wire.


If I was unsure about a timing belt/water pump, I'd just change. Worn timing belt - soaked in fluid(oil/coolant), soft belt, cracked belt, funky looking belt, rubber shavings in the lower t/belt cover.