So I was replacing my head gaskets and I was putting everything back together. Well I forgot to make some timing marks and now my 2002 xterra 3.3 v6 non supercharged won't start. At first I didn't put the pulley on the timing marks so my question is how do I know when I'm top dead center and do I take the distributer cap off and make sure its pointing at cylinder 1? And which mark do I line it up with? And I don't have a timing light. Is there a way to manually time it?
You're at TDC twice during an engine's cycle. The first time up is the intake/compression portion, which is what you need. The second time up is the power/exhaust portion.
You say that you didn't put the pulley on the timing marks. Do you mean the harmonic balancer pulley? Hopefully the timing belt is correctly installed. If not, that'll need attention before anything else.
The HB can be installed in only one way, so if it's installed, the timing marks are supposed to be right. If it's a new HB then the marks may need to be adjusted.
Pull #1 plug, spin the engine in the correct direction (clockwise as you stand in front of it), and do a compression test. When it pumps up that cylinder, it's on the first portion that you need. Then put a pencil into the plug opening and move the crank slowly until it no longer goes any higher. If it goes down a bit, turn it back a bit to raise it, but don't turn it a lot if it got past TDC. Instead, make 2 crank rotations to bring it back to that cylinder's compression stroke and do it again.
Then move the dizzy so the rotor points to #1.
You will need to use a timing light, so either borrow or buy one.
There are 3 lines on the belt. If you have it on backwards, they won't line up.
The tensioner is an odd duck, but so are the engineers who designed it. There is a small spring on the back of the tensioner that needs to be properly tensioned and then you lock down the pulley.
You would probably benefit from reading the procedure in the FSM by downloading a copy from here.
That is cool that the timing belt has marks on it. I have changed timing belts in other cars and always made my own marks.
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