i'd be very careful. i don't doubt that you've checked, and
double-checked, but i've seen mis-toothed belts a number of times
[junior tech not doing the belt right first time] and it will drive real
rough if that's happened. and there's a massive lack of performance.

regarding the cam wheel, i can't recall exactly, but i think it has
about 40 teeth. [always an even number for the cam.] 360/40 = 9
degrees, so that would be the offset you mention.

i'd leave it overnight and look at it on the cold light of a new day
before checking one last time - it really is very unusual for a belt to
jump just one tooth. particularly if the timing belt tension is halfway
correct.

remove the spark plugs before aligning for tdc - makes sure there's no
compression left in a cylinder "adjusting" your position after you last
checked it. also makes it easier to turn. you can stick something down
the spark plug hole to check tdc, but it's not very reliable because you
have a number of degree of rotation with the piston at the top which are
hard to detect by this method. stick to the white mark on the pulley
wheel as being reliable.


Chopface wrote:
> I decided to see if I could slip the belt off of the camshaft pulley
> with the crankshaft lined up at TDC. It looks doable and I have a socket
> wrench combo that can get at the tensioner bolt to redo the tension
> according to my Helm manual once the belt is back on.
>
> Does anyone have enough experience based on what I've shared in these
> three posts to judge that the crankshaft pulley was put back on properly
> with the key in when whoever screwed this all up? With the crankshaft
> pulley at TDC, the camshaft pulley now has the up mark facing downward,
> about 5:00, and a marked line on the camshaft pulley on the opposite
> side of the pulley from the plastic pointer is approximately lined up
> with the pointer.
>
> I am very tempted to try to fix this, but think I should probably wait
> to see if I can trust that the #1 piston is truly TDC when the
> crankshaft pulley mark is ligned up for TDC. Should i stick something
> down the spark plug hole?
>
> Mark