Timing belt problem...

[Ender.]

The belt is being a real pain in the ass to put back on. Everytime I have attempted so far my timing always ends up off and I have to pull the belt back off. I rotate the cam to TDC and then I would rotate the crank to TDC and try to put the belt back on and start rotating to see if the marks line up and they dont... Is there any easier way to do this? Am I hurting anything when I keep rotating the cam and crank seperate? Am I just being a dumbass? All of the above?

Any help is appreciated, please keep the bashing to a minimum. Thanks.

[amdspitfire]

did u loosen the tensioner?

[Ender.]

did u loosen the tensioner?

By loose do you mean able to compress freely? Or compressed all the way and tightend down? I had the tensioner pushed as far as it could go and then tightened it down...

[euro3]

problems

When turning the engine by hand, make sure you are always turning in the same direction. It should always be in the same direction as the motor spins. The tensioner should be just loose enough to pivot.

You can get misleading results if you constantly turn the motor back and fourth by hand. (clockwise vs counter clockwise) Turning one way will result in belt slack on the left side.....turning the other way will result in slack on the oppisite side.

If I remember correctly you should always spin the motor clockwise.

GL

[wickedE30]

The belt is being a real pain in the ass to put back on. Everytime I have attempted so far my timing always ends up off and I have to pull the belt back off. I rotate the cam to TDC and then I would rotate the crank to TDC and try to put the belt back on and start rotating to see if the marks line up and they dont... Is there any easier way to do this? Am I hurting anything when I keep rotating the cam and crank seperate? Am I just being a dumbass? All of the above?

Any help is appreciated, please keep the bashing to a minimum. Thanks.

You are just being a dumbass.:jk:

[strad]

Let's see, haven't done this before, but I know that 2 revs of crank equals 1 rev of cam. You did take that into account right?

[86espowa]

the cam rotates at 1/2 speed of the crank.

if it is still off, even taking that into effect, you have serious problems on your hands.

[Mossman]

the cam rotates at 1/2 speed of the crank.

if it is still off, even taking that into effect, you have serious problems on your hands.

serious problems that can't exist unless hoodlums swapped out your cam pulley for one with a different # of teeth.

Don't really know what to tell you, cam tdc, crank tdc, there shouldn't be too much slack but if there is keep it on the tensioner side not between the crank and cam where it goes directly.

Did you get it eventually?

[Ender.]

serious problems that can't exist unless hoodlums swapped out your cam pulley for one with a different # of teeth.

Don't really know what to tell you, cam tdc, crank tdc, there shouldn't be too much slack but if there is keep it on the tensioner side not between the crank and cam where it goes directly.

Did you get it eventually?

I havent tried again yet, but I am pretty sure we had it right... The kid that was helping me didnt know anything about bimmers and it was my first time working a bimmer as well. If I feel like it when I am off of work, ill give it another stab.