Well, sometime around 3 months ago I would hear this random squeeking from my car. It would squeek for a couple seconds, then just dissapear. I had pluged a fitting in my thermostat, and thought it might be pressure or something from that. Not much more than a week later, I get a check engine light and find that my timing is off. No biggy, I set it and think nothing of the two events. About another week later, I notice my car starts "missing" under really heavy load. I figured it was the rotor in my dizzy, but kinda put it off for a little while.

NOW, fast forward to 10 days ago. I get home from about an hour long drive, and all of a sudden the sqeeking is LOUD and constant. I do some research, and find that my bearing is probably going out in the dizzy. OF COURSE...everything makes sense now. I order a new dizzy from distributorking.com (great prices BTW). Got it installed today (5 minute job). We go to set the timing, and cannot get the damn thing any closer than about 20 degrees off. However, the car is actually not running that bad. Hrrrmmm. I set the motor to TDC, pull of the valve cover, and find THIS:





Now, I've got a couple questions:

The car has been running quite rich for sometime now, do you think it's possible that this has been going on for quite a while???

I realize in order to get the cam timing set correct, the "UP" marks should obviously be facing UP. However, It's difficult to tell exactly what UP is. I looked for marks on the cam gears that would reference them to eachother, but couldn't find anyway. How do I make sure to get this right when I fix it????

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spankjelly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I realize in order to get the cam timing set correct, the "UP" marks should obviously be facing UP. However, It's difficult to tell exactly what UP is. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Up is what is marked UP

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NACvicSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Up is what is marked UP</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I realize there is the up marking. But does it need to run perpendicular to the block, the head, the ground...??? I thought there were marks on the cam that were in reference to eachother, i.e., when the cams were in the correct position, there were dots on the intake and exhaust cam that matched up to eachother.

It appears that they need to be turned clockwise 2 teeth (app. 20 degrees) but I want to make sure its not one or three.

 

My head has notches that match up with one of the marks.

 

The timing marks on the cam gears are perpindicular to the UP arrow. This is the best way I can explain it.

-(CG)- -(CG)-

- = timing mark
(CG) = cam gear

The marks on the cam gear are little indents on the teeth. There should also be cam gear markings on the black cover that goes behind the cam gears. Looks like yours isn't on there

 

Yeah thats what I meant, just didn't know how to put it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spankjelly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Yeah, I realize there is the up marking. But does it need to run perpendicular to the block, the head, the ground...??? I thought there were marks on the cam that were in reference to eachother, i.e., when the cams were in the correct position, there were dots on the intake and exhaust cam that matched up to eachother.

It appears that they need to be turned clockwise 2 teeth (app. 20 degrees) but I want to make sure its not one or three.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Whenever you turn the cam marker facing up, the cam teeth in the middle that are right next to each other should line up too. If you look at the left and right side of the camgear it should be straight with the surface of the head right behind it.

 

Blue Shadow - Great post man, that really helps alot.

I looked for a little bit for the marks, but couldn't see anything. Maybe know that I know the general vacinitiy I should be able to find 'em. Are they just little knicks, similiar to what is found on the crank pulley???

Also, I am AMAZED at how well the car can still run when cam timing is off 20 degrees. I'm glad I checked it!

Also, what gets me is that fact that this can even happen! I mean, the timing belt is taut as hell, and there is shear pin built into the dizzy to prevent just this situation from happening. I'm just glad I didn't make some piston to valve contact.

 

heres the real thing, match up the little grooves (yellow arrows)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spankjelly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Blue Shadow - Great post man, that really helps alot.

I looked for a little bit for the marks, but couldn't see anything. Maybe know that I know the general vacinitiy I should be able to find 'em. Are they just little knicks, similiar to what is found on the crank pulley???
</TD></TR></TABLE>

EDIT: WTDR might be down, so for my description just use gold EF's pic for reference.

If you look at the pics I posted above and your actual cam gears you'll notice the following:

#1 The TOP tdc marking is centered on a tooth for both intake and exhaust cam

#2 The BOTTOM tdc marking is als centered on a tooth

#3 The LEFT tdc marking on the exhaust cam gear is not quite centered on the cam gear spoke, it is up a little, and on a tooth

#4 The RIGHT tdc marking on the intake cam gear is not centered on the cam gear spoke, is is below the center of the cam gear spoke, on a tooth

#5 Look at the pic below and look at the tdc markings on the gear that are next to each other in the middle. You see how the marking on the exhaust cam is below the center of the spoke? notice how it matches the location of the mark in #4, which is also below center of the spoke

#6 Look at the pic below and look at the tdc markings on the gears that are next to each other in the middle. Look at the marking on the intake cam you see it is above the center of the spoke? notice how it matches the location of the mark in #3 which is also above center of the spoke

 

And also check the mark on the crank.
You can time your camgears, but if they are still out of synch with the crankshaft, you're still having problems.
Or even a valve hitting the piston!

 

Is that a DOHC ZC? I thought those cam gears had notches that had to face eachother on the gears....hmmm maybe I'm thinking of the wrong motor?

 

when at tdc the cams have a hole in them that you can put a pin or screwdriver in, if you do this with both cams they will be locked at tdc when you put the belt on

 

That's a good tip to point out. If you take the valvecover off, there's two holes in the cam plates that you can stick a 5mm allen wrench in to hold them at TDC.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crx Jimmy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">when at tdc the cams have a hole in them that you can put a pin or screwdriver in, if you do this with both cams they will be locked at tdc when you put the belt on </TD></TR></TABLE>

wow i didnt know that, neat trick
guess ya learn something new everyday

 

Great info everyone, really good stuff.

I checked the TDC mark on my crank pulley using the 'ole "screwdriver in the spark plug hole" trick and it's dead on, now I just have to go through the hassle of loosening the tensioner and getting the belt adjusted right. I've never done any timing belt work with the motor in the car...any input here???

 

Loosen the tensioner bolt. Make sure the cam gears are lined up. Make sure the crank is lined up. Put the timing belt over the cam gears starting at the exhaust side. Now you have to put tension on the belt, which you do by turning the crank counter clockwise 3 teeth. Then just tighten the tensioner bolt up, and crank the motor through 2 revolutions and check your timing marks.

 

this is not a joke guys, happens all the time.. I know my honda dealership gives you a small package of grease for the bearing when you buy a cap/rotor..

the worse i ever seen was a cam gear shear right off on a SOHC..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2point2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this is not a joke guys, happens all the time.. I know my honda dealership gives you a small package of grease for the bearing when you buy a cap/rotor..

the worse i ever seen was a cam gear shear right off on a SOHC.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly. I never thought in a million years this would happen, ESPECIALLY after I looked at the design of the dizzy. It is constructed so that if the bearing EVER goes out, a tiny *** little pin is supposed to shear and bypass the dizzy, cutting spark. INSTEAD, the tiny pin hold up, and the taut *** timing belt skips 2 teeth.

 

thats nothing, consider yourself lucky, ive seen 2 cars one a f22b and one a b16a, camshaft snap in half because the distributor siezed

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gold EF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thats nothing, consider yourself lucky, ive seen 2 cars one a f22b and one a b16a, camshaft snap in half because the distributor siezed</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I absolutely agree. I could not believe how great the car ran. If you didn't know the car well enough, you could easily drive around with your cam timing off 20 degrees and probably not notice.