Topic: 3.0 not running after changing tensioner

[94runner]

just changed out the timing belt tensioner in my 4runner (3.0 v6) and now the engine wont turn over. the install went smooth, so i'm not really sure what is wrong. initially after putting everything back together, it fired up and ran a little rough and the idle was high. not really a big deal since i did just drain the coolant and the computer reset itself since the battery was out. i had this happen before when i changed the water pump. i shut it off and let it sit for about 5 minutes and then went to fire it up again and now i get a loud knock coming from the unit on top of the airbox and it wont turn over. any ideas as to what it could be?

[junya92toy]

can you turn it over by hand? when you say turn over, do you mean it wont rotate or it wont run?

[94runner [OP]]

i should've been more clear in my original post. i can turn the key and the car will crank, but it wont run. i found out what the knock is...... in the air box there is a metal flap, i think the knock is coming from the computer telling that flap to open and close.

when i replaced the timing belt tensioner, i tried to make sure the timing belt remained in the same place. could the timing belt have rotated a tooth over? would that cause the camshafts to by out of sync and it would'nt run?

[silence007]

yes it could. Not sure how hard it is to line up marks on that engine but I would certainly start there.

[silence007]

I should say access or see the cam marks.

[94runner [OP]]

i would love to line up the marks. when i did the timing belt i noticed  that the previous owner didn't install the cam gears correctly, so the marks don't line up with where they should be. At the time i just made sure that the new belt went on the same way it came off and it worked out alright.

Now what i THINK could've happen is that when i went to put the new tensioner on i stretched the timing belt and moved the cam gear over 1 tooth. could i just move the cam gear over 1 tooth and see if that works?  any thoughts on this?

the reason this confuses me is that right after i finished the job, i fired it up and it ran (a little rough and with high idle). i shut it off and let it sit 5 minutes. now it wont run.

[junya92toy]

Next time count the teeth, so you can put the new belt on that way.

[silence007]

After it was already running is when the tensioner moved the timing to a point where it is out enough to not start, or initial start up just pulled the driver side cam taking up slack. if idle was high probably advanced, retard your distributor all the way and try to start it, if that works that is the verification needed, should be a mark or position on the cam, sometimes the key position. Looking into toyota provided schematics on Ondemand5 looks like the marks were only on pullys, cant see relation to key way in pics too poor quality

[94runner [OP]]

awesome. thanks for the help guys.
 I tried messing with the timing and it still doesn't run. Although I will say that after retarding the timing, the engine "wants to start". it is close and sometimes catches (if that makes sense) but wont run.

i believe your right about the drivers side cam rotating on startup and thats where my problem is. its either that or the passenger cam got rotated when i put the tensioner back on.

are you sure about the cam gears having a key way? i dont think mine aren't aligned correctly because if i line up the mark on the crank pulley at "0" indicating TDC for piston 1, the arrows on the cam gears are pointed at 5 o' clock (driver) and 2 (pass).

[silence007]

it is usually 12 O'clock position, for some reason I thought you said there was no marks, go to www.ondemand5.com and it will show you.  What we use in the shop, not the best material or close really, but for this it refereces Toyota material.

[OOPS]

Here is a link to the FSM for a 93 PU. Has all the info you need.

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-buchanan/93fsm/

[twistedtoy92]

anytime I pull a timing belt I use a paint pen and make the belt to each pulley and each pulley to the engine/head/ect. then you know youll get the timing back on exactly where it was...