Timing belt question

[jeffroid]

Sorry for starting a new thread when there are so many others on this topic, but I am tired and want to make sure of a couple of things before I finish putting my car back together.

 

My car is a 1996 Legacy outback with EJ22 engine.  I tried my best to do all my homework, read the threads, watched youtube videos, followed the FSM, etc.  It went pretty smooth despite a couple of stupid mistakes on my part, but there are a couple of things I don't understand.

 

One is the lines on the new timing belt.  I got all three marks on the belt lined up with the cam wheels and crank.  But after you start rotating things, the lines in the belt don't line up anymore, even when the marks on the cam wheel and crank are lined up properly.  I don't get it.  What is the point of the lines on the belt?  As long as all three marks on the wheels and crank are lined up after you pull the pin on the tensioner you should be good to go, right?  The marks on the belt aren't supposed to line up every time, are they?  The belt I pulled off didn't have lines on it.

 

The second is this line from the FSM:

 

CAUTION:  After properly installing timing belt, remove rocker arm cover and ensure that the valve last adjuster contains no air.

 

WTF is this all about?  I don't recall seeing this in any of the threads, or youtube videos.  I sure don't feel like pulling off the valve covers after all I have been through, and wouldn't even know what I was looking for if I did.

 

Can any of you help me with these two items please?  Thanks as always.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[porcupine73]

The lines on the belt will not line up every revolution. The purpose of the lines is to make sure you get the right tooth count between all the marks, not that the marks line up every revolution. The thing about air in the lash adjusters in my mind sort of depends on two things. First do you have HLA's, which most likely is yes, I think '96 was the last year for them. Were they all primed before starting the job, which they probably were as long as none were faulty. And, how many times were the cams rotated doing the timing. Too many times can make them lose their prime since the engine isn't running so oil isn't circulating. But even then I believe normally they will reprime themselves after some time with the engine running though there may be some ticking sound until that happens. Someone had a nice post about pulling them out and repriming them in clean oil to get out all the black icky gunk inside that can sometimes make them not pump up properly.

[Legback0203]

Not sure about the cautionary statement but I just did a timing belt on my ej251 which should be the same as far as timing goes and I estimated it would take roughly 40 or so revolutions of the belt for all three to line back up. It takes a little over 9 revolutions on the crank per revolution of the belt. As long as they lined up when you put it on and nothing hit through a couple of revolutions you should be ok.

[jeffroid]

Thanks for the replies.  That makes sense.  Got it all back together this afternoon and it started right up.  I did hear some ticking but it went away after a few minutes.  Took it for a test drive and it seems like it's running a little stronger.  It could just be my imagination, because there was nothing wrong with the way it was running.  I only did this because I had some down time for Christmas and it has 220K miles on it.  I bought it in 2006 with 57K on it.  Best car I have ever owned.

 

Thanks again.  This board has helped me so much.

[porcupine73]

Great glad it's back together and working! I think I heard that if the old belt had a lot of miles on it, sometimes a new belt will give a bit better performance because the old belt was likely stretched a bit thus altering the timing slightly.

 

Yes those early/mid 90's soobs with the 2.2L 'take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. Their main enemy seems to be rust if they're in a rusty area.

Edited December 29, 2015 by porcupine73