About to tackle Head Gasket on my 2012 CT200h tomorrow

[MPDano]

Guys, need advice. Am I off by 1 tooth? Was lined up before I put the timing cover on. My only regret is I didn't put tension on the chain slack to verify before closing it up. Hate it that the tensioner is mounted on the timing chain cover. Thoughts?

 

[MPDano]

Actually, come to think about it. The colored chain links were exactly spot on when I put the chain on, so slack was on the exhaust side. I have to be correct.

 

[mattd]

It looks to me you're out of time. In your disassembly pictures the crank was at 0* and the cams were lined up. The last picture shows the cams lined up, but the crank 10* ahead of the cams.

Is that exhaust cam mark STRAIGHT up?

Edit. It's tough to tell from those photos. Put the crank at 0 and see where the cams are.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted by mattd
It looks to me you're out of time. In your disassembly pictures the crank was at 0* and the cams were lined up. The last picture shows the cams lined up, but the crank 10* ahead of the cams.

Is that exhaust cam mark STRAIGHT up?


Thats the way it looks to me too. Unless the camera angle is really fooling me he is a sprocket off on the crank.

 

[The Critic]

Yes, you are one tooth off. Most likely, you left slack in the chain between the intake cam and the crankshaft. I have seen this mistake before.

If you remove the crank pulley, you will find that the dot on the sprocket does not match up with the correct link on the chain.

 

[The Critic]

BTW, I hope you are replacing the electric engine water pump and the thermostat not reusing them.

 

[MPDano]

Originally Posted by The Critic
Yes, you are one tooth off. Most likely, you left slack in the chain between the intake cam and the crankshaft. I have seen this mistake before.

If you remove the crank pulley, you will find that the dot on the sprocket does not match up with the correct link on the chain.


Dot on sprocket would mean to take the timing cover back off, no way Jose, lol. I'll have to fix this from the top using a bungee to not lose slack. I'm just wondering "before I put the timing cover on," I put the colored links exactly where they should have been. Even the crank dot and colored link.

I'll post better straight on pics guys.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by MPDano
Originally Posted by The Critic
Yes, you are one tooth off. Most likely, you left slack in the chain between the intake cam and the crankshaft. I have seen this mistake before.

If you remove the crank pulley, you will find that the dot on the sprocket does not match up with the correct link on the chain.


Dot on sprocket would mean to take the timing cover back off, no way Jose, lol. I'll have to fix this from the top using a bungee to not lose slack. I'm just wondering "before I put the timing cover on," I put the colored links exactly where they should have been. Even the crank dot and colored link.

I'll post better straight on pics guys.

You only need to remove the crank pulley - just remove the crank bolt, remove the pulley and you will be able to see the chain links and the dot on the sprocket.

 

[mattd]

Did you rotate the engine before you put the cover on? It's possible the chain is stretched a little. Those colored links are for a new chain install. I always mark the chain where it rides on the sprockets before disassembly for this reason

 

[MPDano]

Originally Posted by The Critic
Originally Posted by MPDano
Originally Posted by The Critic
Yes, you are one tooth off. Most likely, you left slack in the chain between the intake cam and the crankshaft. I have seen this mistake before.

If you remove the crank pulley, you will find that the dot on the sprocket does not match up with the correct link on the chain.


Dot on sprocket would mean to take the timing cover back off, no way Jose, lol. I'll have to fix this from the top using a bungee to not lose slack. I'm just wondering "before I put the timing cover on," I put the colored links exactly where they should have been. Even the crank dot and colored link.

I'll post better straight on pics guys.

You only need to remove the crank pulley - just remove the crank bolt, remove the pulley and you will be able to see the chain links and the dot on the sprocket.


If you remove the harmonic balancer, you will be faced with a crank seal. The gear is "under" the timing cover.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by MPDano
Originally Posted by The Critic
Originally Posted by MPDano
Originally Posted by The Critic
Yes, you are one tooth off. Most likely, you left slack in the chain between the intake cam and the crankshaft. I have seen this mistake before.

If you remove the crank pulley, you will find that the dot on the sprocket does not match up with the correct link on the chain.


Dot on sprocket would mean to take the timing cover back off, no way Jose, lol. I'll have to fix this from the top using a bungee to not lose slack. I'm just wondering "before I put the timing cover on," I put the colored links exactly where they should have been. Even the crank dot and colored link.

I'll post better straight on pics guys.

You only need to remove the crank pulley - just remove the crank bolt, remove the pulley and you will be able to see the chain links and the dot on the sprocket.


If you remove the harmonic balancer, you will be faced with a crank seal. The gear is "under" the timing cover.

You can still see a little bit of the gear, it might be enough. Worse case, remove the crank seal. Getting another crank seal still beats fully reassembling and finding out after start-up that your timing is off.

 

[MPDano]

Originally Posted by mattd
Did you rotate the engine before you put the cover on? It's possible the chain is stretched a little. Those colored links are for a new chain install. I always mark the chain where it rides on the sprockets before disassembly for this reason


I didn't want to rotate the crank with no tensioner. The pics in the thread do show the colored links in the proper place before even disassembling.

 

[MPDano]

Pics of the timing marks. Also, did the EGR/Cooler/Pipe and Intake cleaning while I had them off. Can't believe how much carbon is in these areas.

Question, last pic is a valve going to the intake. I can't seem to find the plug off the harness. Is there even one?

 

[The Critic]

I'm pretty sure there's a connector there. I can pull the airbox on my Prius later tonight and take a picture of that area for you if you'd like.

On a second thought, if your colored links lined up during assembly it was in-time. But it is possible that the chain jumped or as Matt mentioned, chain stretch. The crank pulley should line up at 0 when the cams are in the appropriate positions.

 

[mattd]

That exhaust cam doesn't look quite lined straight up, if that what it calls for. IMO I don't think you had all slack of the chain on the tension side . As critic mentioned, at TDC on the balancer the cams should line up properly. They don't in your assembly photos

 

[mattd]

Originally Posted by MPDano
Originally Posted by mattd
Did you rotate the engine before you put the cover on? It's possible the chain is stretched a little. Those colored links are for a new chain install. I always mark the chain where it rides on the sprockets before disassembly for this reason


I didn't want to rotate the crank with no tensioner. The pics in the thread do show the colored links in the proper place before even disassembling.


It's good you didn't rotate it. Even though the colored links were lined up, there still could be too much slack between the colored links due to stretch. Over time the tensioner took up that extra slack. If you could inspect your tensioner protrusion I would bet it would be further extended now than before you took it apart. Like I stated, if its a new chain by all means use the colored marks. On a used chain always make your own marks if you are re using it so you know all the slack is on the tension side.

Did the chain seem loose between sprockets at all, or between the cams, or between the intake cam and crank? Or almost seem like you could take a link or half a link out even though the marks are in line? This would be a sign of chain stretch. If you don't have ALL the slack on the tensioner side, reguardless of the position of those factory colored links, you will be out of time.

 

[spasm3]

Should he just put a chain on it for $40 or $50 ?



EDIT: nevermind, i see he already has the timing cover re-installed.

 

[mattd]

I took another LONG look at the disassembly photos and and assembly photos, it's tough to tell but it looks like BOTH cams need to rotate more clockwise SLIGHTLY to be in time. Look at the two bolts for the VVT cam gear. In disassembly photos they looked to be parallel with the edge of the timing Cover. They definitely aren't in the assembly photos. The exhaust cam mark is also not completely perpendicular to the timing cover. BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING, put the balancer at TDC 0* and see what the cams look like.

Unless those photos are with the balancer at 0??

 

[MPDano]

False alarm guys. It was on time. My tensioner wasn't set, even though I heard it ratchet. By turning it clockwise on the video was incorrect advice. I removed my tensioner and latched it again, this time I rotated it about 5 degrees counter and used a screwdriver to unlatch it manually. Turned it clockwise and it ratched open. Verified I was on time the whole time.

Buttoned up most of it back together, just need to install plugs and put oil/coolant and run it. Fingers crossed for no leaks, lol.

Also, found the missing connector, which was tucked behind the harness.

 

[dwcopple]

I really hope this works for you