Timing belt walking

[jdwk]

I put on a new timing belt this past weekend. When I spun the crank to make sure the cams lined up properly, the belt started to make its way off the cams. It remains flush on the crank which is odd, since you would think it would center itself. The crank pulley and the valve cover will keep it from coming off, but I don't want it to rub against the valve cover. Seems like a recipe for disaster.

It goes from center to about a 1/4 inch off in just a few rotations. Haven't had time to push it back on and play with it some more. My upper belt cover was cracked in several places around the bolt holes, so I am waiting on a new one to arrive from Jason before I can button her all back up.

I am wondering if I got a bad belt, possibly a little tighter on one side causing it to walk towards the looser side. It's an autozone duralast.

I'll spin it around a bunch tonight and see how far it goes, but any amount off the sprockets seems like it would be very bad. Anyone else ever notice this? The original belt was nice and center when I took it off.

 

[tweety2300]

Did you get the tensioner on right? I had problems with the spring when I did mine

 

[jdwk]

I think so, it's just one bolt and I put it on to spec with a torque wrench. The spring was a PITA though. Eventually used some long skinny needle nose pliers to get it on. I put it in easily with the belt off, but then couldn't get the belt on with one hand while holding the tensioner. Once the belt was on and in the way, it was difficult to work around.

It did however spin the tensioner completely around with my allen wrench when I was trying to move the eyelet closer to the hook pin to get the spring on. The service manual says not to put more stress on the belt than the spring, and my allen wrench definitely put more stress than the spring. I don't see how that would cause the belt to walk off though, and the belt doesn't seem stretched anywhere.

 

[jdwk]

Ok problem solved. I spun it a bunch and it kept creeping off. I then put it back on as far as I could get it, which was only to the edge, not center. Then I put the crank pulley back on, and spun it and it centered itself. So the pulley has to be one for the belt to center itself, kind of strange. The manual did not say to do that before checking the that the timing marks lined up.