Really made a balls of this....

Phoenix

My current project, a 2000 Z22se Vectra SRi with possible cracked head.

Long story short, head and gasket all in order, no real idea where coolant was going to/from but suspect intake manifold gasket. Putting it back together to see how it runs.

I didnt note the position of the cams (doh!) before they came off when the head was tested. I've put them back on and was hoping to line them up with the sprockets, as i had them all cable tied up to the car.

In a nutshell, yesterday was a nightmare. Couldnt get the sprockets to line up with the cams, they just wouldnt 'click' into the cams at all, even a mild tap with the hammer wouldnt see them in. The chain then appears to have slipped off at the bottom, the timing is now all out and i have no idea where it's at, the head is bolted down do cant remove the head to make things easier, the piston has moved a tiny bit when i've tried to remove the crank pulley (there's also no markings on the pulley or the chain cover to allow me to get it lined back up) the crank pulley bolt is jammed solid despite 3+ hours of trying, i dont have much of a clue about working at that end of the engine (although the topic on here made things a bit clearer) and essentially, it's all gone to pot.

I can see this being sat in the garage for some considerable time yet, or many many many many pieces of it going to ebay 🙁

cavaddict

Remove your cams.....set up from the bottom crank sprocket and re-align your top cam marks with the appropriate markers and you'll be fine. Obviously you will need to remove the pulley any cover for this i'm afraid.

astra22bertoneauto

Did you pressure test the head?

cavaddict

Where abouts are you?

Phoenix

cavaddict said:
Remove your cams.....set up from the bottom crank sprocket and re-align your top cam marks with the appropriate markers and you'll be fine. Obviously you will need to remove the pulley any cover for this i'm afraid.

Cheers, i'll have a look at that. Just putting other bits back on until i can borrow a big breaker bar to try and get that pulley off.

astra22bertoneauto said:
Did you pressure test the head?

Yep, skimmed aswell, no leaks or cracks or anything.

cavaddict said:
Where abouts are you?

North West Lancs.

Looking at it, it might not be as bad of a job as i thought. Let me get it straight though, when i get the cover off, i can mark the bottom of the chain then work up from there. The problem i have is that, looking at it today, the marks on the sprocket (which were cable tied and couldnt move) have now spun around so they are about 10-15 inches right of where they should be. Obviously this means everything has moved, including the piston. How can i align #1 to TDC again and start afresh? Are there timing marks on the crank end so i can line that up to TDC? I read in the haynes manual that there should be timing marks on the pulley that match with the casing, but i've checked 100 times and there arent any. My biggest worry is not doing the job, it seems pretty easy when you get in there, its making sure its setup right for when i place it back together... :lol:

solorider

the crank timing mark is a line on the casing about 45 degrees to the left of the top of the pulley,you time the cams to no 4 cylinder not cylinder 1

Phoenix

Ok, update!

After a nearly broken bag, leg, hand, launching the hammer at the bonnet and the engine, getting a wrench stuck for two hours etc etc, i've finally managed to get the timing cover off and this is what we have: (apologies for the pics being the wrong way and poor quality; taken on a low res phone).

The chain is slack because i loosened it off the sprockets and let it droop down. I know its not a million miles out i think, but im going to start from scratch. Despite the car being in gear, the crank was turned a little as i heard the pistons move when removing the crankshaft pulley. This makes me believe the engine is not TDC at the moment, but only by maybe an inch or so.

What timing marks am i using and looking for here? My guess is the two vertical lines need to match up with the foremost sprocket which then has the chain lined up with it, correct? If so, the front 'sprocket' (sorry if this is the wrong term, i mean the big cog the timing chain lives on) appears to have a fair bit of writing on, however it has a yellow spot on it which is a small hole with yellow inside. Its just visible on picture 3 and bang in the middle of picture 1 & 2. If so, how do i get this lined up?

Lastly, on picture 3, there is a brown coloured link on the balance chain which doesnt line up with anything in that pic. Should it? I cant check it now because its too dark outside but it seems a clear different colour.

For info, if it matters, this is a newer style chain (i think) with blue and red markings on the chain.

Thanks very much to anyone who can assist.

vocky

ignore the rear sprocket, thats for the balancer chain and the timing marks won't be aligned as it takes something like 700 revelutions for them to realign again, that doesn't mean the timing changes just the painted links move about.

you need to use the white dot as the crank marking, this should have a painted link across it when the timing is correct.