87 Camry 3SFE Timing Belt ?

[nohablaingles]

I started to change the T-belt (134K mi., and the belt on the car has Japanese writing!!), lined up the crankshaft pulley mark with '0' on lower timing belt cover, tried to line up camshaft bearing cap mark and hole in camshaft gear. No dice. Tried to do same w/ distributor rotor and #1 plug wire. No dice.
My buddy says to just mark position of the crank and cam pulleys and remove and replace the belt, keeping both lined up, but I'm not so sure.
So...is the timing off 180 degrees? Motor runs strong, with occasional blip at idle, but that timing belt is definitely shot.
Any feedback and advice?

Thanks
Peter

[DFBonnett]

If it were 180 out it wouldn't run at all. It would run poorly 1 tooth off.
You can download a manual here http://oregonstate.edu/~tongt/camry .
May give you some tips to get past the problem installing the new belt.

[nohablaingles]

Thanks. Here goes...

[RIP]

How far off is the cam mark? I recall the first time I changed the belt on that engine I could never get it dead nuts on. Would always be one tooth off either way. Didn't realise that was good enough. Just had to do the fine adjust by rotating the distributor.

You are lucky yours lasted 134k miles. Mine slipped at 116K miles. It stripped 4 teeth and threw the timing to 30 deg BTDC. After that the speed maxed out at 35 mph for the 20 mile trip home.

[Brian R.]

If the marks are 180 degrees off, try turning your crank (clockwise) another 360 degrees.

In any event, your buddy is right. If the belt hasn't jumped a tooth, mark the old belt and both the cam and crank sprockets with a white marker. Take the old belt off and mark the new belt (correct side out) with the marks being exactly the same number of teeth away from each other around the belt. Then install the new belt with the marks lined up with the sprockets exactly the same way as the old belt. Set the tension and put it back together.

There are alot of additional steps to be done that I haven't mentioned, so get a manual and do it right. The correct cam timing and ignition timing will be retained if you index the sprockets and belt as above.

[nohablaingles]

Thanks!!