Timing belt skip?

[sLADe781]

How do you know if your timing belt skipped a teeth? I'm just a little worried because my car still crackles when I start my car up in the mornings and I'm scared it might be something with my timing belt...

[Igovert500]

Pull off the timing belt cover and just make sure the marks line up correctly. check the 60k tuneup links in the FAQ if you need pictures.

[sLADe781]

Umm....I don't get what I'm trying to match up. Here's the picture that I was looking at: http://www.vr4stealth.com/60ktune04.jpg So like everytime you turn off your car it's supposed to reset to the original position where everything lines up?

[Musashi3000GT]

If your car has had the timming belt changed on time there is no way it could have skipped a tooth. you dont race and you really dont abuse that car the way some other guys do. the timming components on our cars are damn strong. besides if it had skipped a tooth your timming would be all f**ked up. your be predetonating or backfiring. your revs would be erratic, youd have all sorts of sounds from your vavles floating. it would sound like an old Yugo.

that noise it makes in the morning is valve tick or lifter tick. after a few years all cars get loose and noises start to show up. once the oil is nice and warm (thick) then it should quiet the car down a bit. its perfectly normal bro. try what I do. let your car warm up till the needle is at normal operating temp. then shut off the car. wait for the needle to drop to the bottom, about 3-4 seconds. then start her back up. the noise will be gone totally.

also I dont know if you guys realize how serious warming up our cars is.
You can shave alot of years off your engine by not letting it warm up. those guys that get out of bed, get dressed, turn on the car and take off. those are the ones you see with 72K miles and blown motors.
always let the car warm up to normal opperating temp before you take off. it takes me about 7 minutes to let her warm up. but hey, im at 153000miles, I run the shit outta her every day. I race almost every day, I hike her up to 120mph on my way to work and again on my way home every day, I run AutoX once or twice a month and my engine is freaking bullet proof. just gotta know how to take care of the internalls so they take care of you right back.

[sLADe781]

Well that's the thing....I don't know when the timing belt was changed. The previous owner said he changed it before but he doesn't have any paperwork to prove it so I'm kinda suspicious. I'm thinking that he may have just said that he did the 60k tuneup to sell the car. Don't really know though... I have a carfax of my car but it doesn't detail any work that was done to it, just the fact that it's been in the shop.

At any rate, the noise started after that one morning when I called you hella early (remember?). It only crackles the very first time I start my car and after that, it's gone pretty much for the rest of the day. That's why there's no point in taking it to the shop because by then, the mechanics won't hear it anyways...

[CHRIST75]

Yeah from what you said the noise does sound like lifter tick and now in winter can get worse.
Maybe you can record it and put it on mp3 4 us to listen.
About the Belt, when i got my car The firts thing i did was the 120 tune up, that takes less time and it's cheaper than fixing the damage of a broken timing belt, ( the old owner told me that it was due 4 the maintenance, but i would have do it again if my mechanics said so after checking the system ) Like the other guys said take care of your ride & it's gonna last a while.

[Musashi3000GT]

it was hella early when you called me for you. remember, im 3 hours ahead of you so it was almost mid-day for me.

as far as the noise. if it goes away after a while. its NOT you timming belt.
the timming problem your worried about would not go away, it would be ticking all day long so yeah it could be the lifter tick. still man its not good to have those unknown noises.
if you cant get us a sound clip have a mechanic take a look at it.
dont need another grounded 3000GT!

[sLADe781]

I'll try and get the sound recorded on a weekend sometime. I'm just so freakin' busy all the time....like this past weekend, I didn't even get a chance to take a look at the whole timing belt deal.

[sLADe781]

Okay guys, I'm hoping that someone can help me out with this. I finally pulled off the covers this past weekend but could only get one off because the other one was being blocked by a brake hardline and I wasn't about to pull it off and bleed my whole system just to take a look at the belt. Anyways, here are 3 pictures that I took and I'm hoping that someone can tell me if my timing belt is okay or if it skipped or something. So yeah, please help!?!

Distant shot:


Close-up with the timing mark:


Another close-up of the other one:


Help!?!

[sLADe781]

So yeah, anyone?

[Stealthee]

If anything you are off by a tooth. It hard to guage by looking at a picture though.

[sLADe781]

Hmm...well, is there any way I can make sure? Is the only way to know for sure is to take it in to a mechanic? Also, how can you tell and how bad would it be that I'm off by a tooth?

[Stealthee]

The two cams spin opposite each other. So what you do is count from the mark on the valve cover down to the mark on the cam gear. Its most likely on though. Being off by a tooth would cause the car to run not all the way up to apr but wouldnt damage pistons or vavles.

[Linebckr49]

alrighty. i've done the 60k tuneup and timing belt install and everything. here's what you need to do. yes, you have correctly identified the timing marks on the cams (the single dot along the tooth), but you need to check if they match up to the timing marks on the heads. in your first picture, the timing marks on the heads are the two diamond shaped marks between the cams.

to do this, you need to get a ratchet wrench and rotate the crankshaft until the marks line up. you might have to turn the crankshaft one or two revolutions, but do it until both cam marks line up with there respective head marks.

most likely, they are aligned perfectly. if they skipped a tooth, the car probably wounldn't start at all. this happened to my car when my timing tensioner failed, the belt skipped a tooth, and it was a no start. so most likely your timing is dead-on, but if you want to check, there you go.

[Stealthee]

Plenty of people have driven on one or two teeth being off. Some even as much as 3. There is no need to rotate the engine when all you have to do is count down the teeth like I mentioned.

And the original post says the cr crackles in the morning. If the timign was off it would make the same sound all the time. It is most likely lifter tick.