cam gear is 180 degrees off

[E30MACK]

so im changing my timing belt, put everything back together...no start. after reading i figured my timing was of, which it was. my cam gear is 180 degrees off but my crank is dead nuts on....my question is how do I rotate just the cam gear to get it lined up so I can put the timing belt and tensioner back on an button everything back up?

[jp_slick]

the crank rotates twice as fast compared to the crank. turn the crank once again and set it to tdc. your cam should be fairly close to the timing marks.

[M-technik-3]

the crank rotates twice as fast compared to the crank. turn the crank once again and set it to tdc. your cam should be fairly close to the timing marks.

Hope the head is off because if it's not you just had him rotate a valve into a piston.

If he followed you advice.

Is the gear off 180 degrees or is it just an indication? Where is the cam lobes of #1 piston? The engine is all bolted together correctly?
And was the head off the block? as i don't understand how you could have gotten the timing so off if it was together and you were just doing a belt and water pump.

[jp_slick]

If he was trying to start it, im assuming everything is still bolted together and the belt is on.

[Julien]

4 stroke motor buddy (op)

[E30MACK]

i put it together after changing water pump, timing belt tensioner, cam seals, all acc. belts, ignition rotor, thermostat....tried starting and it wouldnt fire....crank but no start. i was getting spark and fuel so i figured I f'd the timing up(since this is my firs time changing a timing belt) took it apart and I was right. I didnt realize that you had to spin the crank shaft with everything attached in order to check it. Im not sure how I got it this far off but I just need to know how to get the cam gear indication to match up to the mark on the block.

[jp_slick]

if the belt is off do not turn your crank 360 degrees or you will hit a valve.

[E30MACK]

all i did when everything except the belt was off was literally look at ti and notice that the marking on the cam gear was off 180 degrees and that the crank markings were all lined up, then i removed the timing belt and tensioner. now i just trying to figure out how to get things lined up corretly so that I can put it back togeher and fire it up.

[morerevsm3]

if the cam is exactly 180* out, it is actually correct as stated above, crankshaft does 2 rotations for 1 cam rotation, so if your distributor is on the front of the cam, it all should be fine, if it has seperate distributor on side of the motor, take the cap off, take timing belt off, rotate idler shaft pulley until rotor button in distributor turns 180* (so if currently lined up with number 1 lead, will need to line up with number 6, or vica versa) and put it all back together

[M-technik-3]

US never got 325's with distributors. Did not notice the I tried to start it.

[morerevsm3]

nowhere here says its a 325...

[E30MACK]

ok let me clarify then...its a 88 325is manual

[E30MACK]

so i figured out that my piston was hitting my valves when I was turning the cam gear by hand....thus the reason it was getting so hard to turn and why i was unable to line everything up. to solve that issue I simply turned the crank gear about a quarter turn and then turned cam gear to line the notches up and then i turned the crank gear backto its proper marks. I didnt wasnt to screw anything up, I was a little apprehensive to do it at first if im correct I should be all set, correct? now I can put stuff back together?

[Fidhle007]

Sure, except for your broken valves...

Please tell me you have a Bentley manual?

[nando]

you should have left it alone. it would have been fine.

there are 2 "top dead centers". One on the intake stroke, and one on the exhaust. the cam and crank will line up on the intake stroke. only the crank lines up on the exhaust stroke. you lined it up on the exhaust stroke, misunderstood the 180* off at the cam, then turned the cam, and now it's all messed up..

essentially, even if it were 180 degrees off, it wouldn't matter at all. It wouldn't be possible to damage the valves that way (since it's still in the same position relative to the crank) and it fires based off where the head is located, not (just) the crank.