timing belt

enzo90

enzo90

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so i'm replacing the timing belt on my 1990 325is and when i get the belt on to all the pulleys the camshaft is a half tooth off of top dead center and i'm wondering if thats a problem. another thing is if it makes a difference if i have it a half tooth off to the left or the right when your facing the front of the car
 
Doughnut

Doughnut

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Make sure your timing marks are all in line with the marks on the block/ head.
Sounds to me like you could possibly have the wrong belt. Count each tooth TWICE on both the new and old belt to make sure, then get back to us *nodding*
 
echothreezero

echothreezero

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There are two belts - a 127-tooth (most common) and a 126-tooth.

Take the belt off and re install making sure you reset the auto-tensioner (you did replace the tensioner, right?)

Then check the timing again. If by half a tooth you mean its only half on the actual tooth it will be fine. If by half a tooth you mean the mark is pointing at the gap between the correct tooth and the next one, something is not quite right.
 
enzo90

enzo90

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i replaced the tensioner and water pump with it and the i got the belt with the car when i bought it so im pretty sure its the right one because the people i bought it from seemed to know what they were talking about. but the mark on the head is pointing at the gap between the teeth so i don't know what happened
 
Doughnut

Doughnut

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enzo90 said:
i replaced the tensioner and water pump with it and the i got the belt with the car when i bought it so im pretty sure its the right one because the people i bought it from seemed to know what they were talking about. but the mark on the head is pointing at the gap between the teeth so i don't know what happened
Click to expand...
Did you count the teeth on both belts anyway?
People "seeming" to know what they are doing, and "knowing" what they are doing are two very different things.
Still sounds like you have the wrong belt imo.

Also Graham, I believe that the 126 toothed belts were on the eta motors? Get back to me.
 
enzo90

enzo90

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i dont have the old belt to count the teeth on because i got the car super cheap after they broke the belt and they included all the parts to fix it. and i think they knew what they were talking about going by the looks of their garage (easily $3000 in tools and 3 bmw's)
 
echothreezero

echothreezero

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Doughnut said:
Also Graham, I believe that the 126 toothed belts were on the eta motors? Get back to me.
Click to expand...
Not 100% sure myself however, I beleive that they phased out the 126-tooth and replaced it with a 127. The reason I think this is because the Bentley says you must make sure your tensioner is stamped 'z127' as the older tensioners were phased out.

The online ETK at bmwfans.info only lists the 127 for both eta and i motors.

The reason I mentioned it was because some of the ETK software the parts places use lists both for the m20 without specifying which one, so its worth checking the parts people havn't given the wrong one even if the people you bought the car off knew what they were doing.
 
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