Am I Screwed? - Timing Belt Question

[rslimbers]

Village idiot here -

Doing my first timing belt job on my '04 LX. I don't know how the hell I did it but basically I was doing some work at home and going back and forth from the garage to the house getting a some emails and truck work done here and there. I must have skipped around my place in my OTRAM video because the next time I went out to the garage I thought it was time to take off the belt tensioner and it definitely was not. Tensioner was removed prior to alignment being set at TDC. I then removed the crank pulley bolt, and noticed the issue.

I immediately put the bolt back on and started to gently rotate to TDC. I don't think any of the teeth jumped but no way I can be 100% sure.

Hypothetically speaking - if someone were to de-tension the belt, and remove from one of the cams (or lose teeth alignment like what possibly happened in my case). How can one recover alignment? I've seen some posts stating that as long as the crank pulley/belt didnt lose alignment (which I think would be my case since the Lcam and crank are tensioned more than the Rcam when detensioned) everything is recoverable but that's not making sense to me as to why. And if it is, how can I verify if the cam is moving independent of the crank?

 

[rslimbers]

Village idiot here -

Doing my first timing belt job on my '04 LX. I don't know how the hell I did it but basically I was doing some work at home and going back and forth from the garage to the house getting a some emails and truck work done here and there. I must have skipped around my place in my OTRAM video because the next time I went out to the garage I thought it was time to take off the belt tensioner and it definitely was not. Tensioner was removed prior to alignment being set at TDC. I then removed the crank pulley bolt, and noticed the issue.

I immediately put the bolt back on and started to gently rotate to TDC. I don't think any of the teeth jumped but no way I can be 100% sure.

Hypothetically speaking - if someone were to de-tension the belt, and remove from one of the cams (or lose teeth alignment like what possibly happened in my case). How can one recover alignment? I've seen some posts stating that as long as the crank pulley/belt didnt lose alignment (which I think would be my case since the Lcam and crank are tensioned more than the Rcam when detensioned) everything is recoverable but that's not making sense to me as to why. And if it is, how can I verify if the cam is moving independent of the crank?

Could I test it by screwing the tensioner back on and giving it a couple rotations to see if everything is still lined up?

 

[3_puppies]

2004 is not an interference engine
rotate around and as long as things still line up you are good to go

 

[nissanh]

What ever you do, do NOT start the engine, until you spin the engine at least 3 full turns on CRANK (not cam). Pull all the spark plugs, this should ease the force on the crank when spinning. It should spin with very less force. If you find resistance, then you have to go back to the TDC and get one or both cams 360 degrees rotated, install the belt and spin again. Do it until no resistance is felt when turning the CRANK by HAND.

 

[rslimbers]

2004 is not an interference engine
rotate around and as long as things still line up you are good to go

I rotated the crank another 720 degreees and everything looks lined up. I guess I'm good?

 

[rslimbers]

What ever you do, do NOT start the engine, until you spin the engine at least 3 full turns on CRANK (not cam). Pull all the spark plugs, this should ease the force on the crank when spinning. It should spin with very less force. If you find resistance, then you have to go back to the TDC and get one or both cams 360 degrees rotated, install the belt and spin again. Do it until no resistance is felt when turning the CRANK by HAND

I rotated the crank another 720 deg and everything seems lined up still at the cams. Sucks that my belt doesnt have marks on it but yeah the marks on the cam pulleys are still lining up