88 Audi 5000 timing belt crap

[88a5tq]

Once upon a time my Audi 5000 ate it's timing belt about 1500 miles into ownership, on the first day of class for mechanical engineering technology. Shitty week that was. I had a "new" head put on by some asshole who pulled the interior apart to show his retard mechanic friends all the cool stuff, including the ski bag which had never been fully pulled out to size.F##########ck that guy.

This past week I changed the timing belt real quick to get this garage opened up. I simply pulled the belt and marked all the pulley locations when the crank lock tool was in place. Car ran without issues before this. I checked the timing marks today just out of curiosity and they are ALL OVER THE PLACE lol. I'm thinking I have no idea what the guy did and maybe I should leave them as is or I might have to pull the cam to get everything bueno for crank rotating purposes.
I really don't want to get into that shit right this minute since the 5k isn't road worthy or inspected at the moment and my 200 ate it's replica shifter bushing last night after I added 2 degrees timing to the map lol. It was such a hard 2nd gear pull that it detonated the bushing hah! I guess my stock trans mounts are not up to the task :(
So I need the garage to fix the bushing obviously. I'll go out and look over the exactness of how far off each mark is in relation to each other but my question(s) is this:

Is it possible for the marks to be off but the mechanical operation to remain the same with the crank and cam?

Is the basic procedure alike for alignment? The part that kicks upside the head is the cam pulley alignment has he mark on the back! I'm trying to do the cam like the 200 using my previous experience. This is my first belt change on the 5k.

Should I put it back on the wheels as is?

I just don't know wtf that guy did or if the old belt slipped a bit or something..

[88a5tq]

What blows my mind is the crank pulley mark and flywheel mark aren't aligned either!!

[88a5tq]

Closer look shows the flywheel mark and the "backside" cam pulley mark are aligned but the factory crank etching that would usually align with the oil pump tab is about 90 degrees to the right. I'm putting this hog back together. There's no way to rotate the crank pulley in relation to the flywheel anyway so this book is closed. Wtf is the only question I have left. Why wouldn't the "0" on the flywheel align with the "l" on the crank pulley?

[Foscora]

How does the crank pulley looks right now ? All the screws are in place ?

You sure about the zero on your flywheel ?

To begin with, remove 1st plug and check top dead center using something long (screwdriver, wooden pen, etc), JUST DONT LEAVE IT IN PLACE while turning the engine by hand (I've seen many bad scenarios), have someone hold it or remove it before turning the engine again.

Approaching the 0, your piston must be all the way up (meaning your pen or whatsoever) can't go any higher.




Then to dial the camshaft, you'll probably* have to remove the valve cover unfortunately to check if none of the cams are touching your valves, seen from the front of the engine, they must make a "V shape (one this way \ and the other like that /).
* : depending on your ability to see the cams for the 1st cylinder or not through the oil cap.

Otherwise, a more shitty** but easier way, should be to note where is your cyl1 on the distributor (this is "pointing toward the radiator" IIRC, to be sure, just follow the wire), mark it''s location on the distributor body, remove the distributor cap and check if 0 on the flywheel = Cyl 1 on the distributor.

** : You gonna be sure no one touched your distributor since your belt got replaced.



EDIT : Forgot, there's another technique for the camshaft, but you'll have trouble finding it (if your pulley is dirty/rusty), there's a small mark on the camshaft pulley, you can see it looking from the back of the engine. Should be aligned with upper cover while @0 on the flywheel.


(you don't need to remove the valve cover for this one tho)

[88a5tq]

Dang thanks for all that man! You're a credit to this forum

I also forgot to mention the untouched dizzy rotor was aligned correctly when the cam and flywheel were. I think im good here. Engine spins freely too.

[Foscora]

I have seen / heard some "bad case scenario", (most of the time "I left it in gear") and both of my cars had a bad timing (1 tooth forward) by previous owners & mechs, sooo .. you know, I tend to be 200% cautious now !

[88a5tq]

Dam right man. I'm certain this is right in this case because the crank pulley be "out" any angle since it goes on only one way. Same for the flywheel which makes this sorta f#cky. Idk if it's not the original pulley sooo. Lol thanks for chiming in nonetheless!

[88a5tq]

Update

Out of the dam garage finally! Started right up and ran great

[Foscora]

Nice ! However I'm still curious to know how your pulley can be oriented this way. You removed it to change the water pump right ?

[88a5tq]

Yes correct. I was short on funds and didn't change the tensioner pulley however. Can it still be removed I wander?!

Didn't even think about the space constraint at the time hah. I was going to still do it but not until after inspection.

[DE80q]

If you are talking about the mark on the outer edge of the damper, NEVER go by that. These old dampers are know to turn on the rubber. I have a couple of them, and none of them are the the "correct" place. As long as the flywheel mark, and the the cam mark are in good relation you are good to go.

[88a5tq]

Whoa hold up I think I figured it out! That guy was a moron. Sooo if the pulley was exactly 90° off I bet he took the pulley down to 2 pieces and when he reassembled it he probably ignored the nipple and diver for realignment and turned it 90 degrees off lol.

But more likely your above statement is right
That's crazy they can move. I totally forgot about that. Thanks for your help!