2010 Head Gasket replacement - questions before reassembly

I think your marks look good including the harmonic balancer. I would fix the oil passage orings and test drive again.

 

Okay, do you see where the marks are, where the chain fits? Look at it in relationship to the
cam cover. THAT is where they should line up when you are on TDC for the
INTAKE stroke of cylinder #1. No matter where the colored marks are.

 

The intake and exhaust camshafts are correctly timed to each other, but until you verify that the yellow mark plate on the chain lines up with the timing mark on the crankshaft sprocket, it would be impossible to say for sure whether the camshafts are correctly timed to the crankshaft—you would indeed need to remove the timing cover to check this. It does "look" correct assuming the chain is properly tensioned.

I am not sure if I would be able to follow ASRDogman's instructions to set the timing. Those instructions seem to boil down to "Orient the camshafts exactly as in this picture while cylinder #1 is at TDC", and are problematic for the following reasons:

1. there are no objective guidelines to help the installer judge whether or not the orientation matches what is shown, and
2. even if the camshafts are oriented perfectly, allowing slack in the chain in the wrong locations will result in incorrect timing.

I still don't see any reason why anyone would set the timing without the aid of the colored links on the chain (or alternatively, by counting the links between the timing marks on the sprockets).

 

For some reason, you are not comprehending what I am stating.
I have not idea how to get you to understand. I could not explain it any easier.

Hundred's of thousands of engine's have been timed without colored marks, and check
to make sure the timing is correct. The colored link are ONLY their for putting the on,
not after the engine has turned 1 or more revolustions.

 

You can time it without colored links when the chain is fully exposed by counting the links as shown in Saneauto’s video (post 55) above. 9 on top, 25 on the right side. At that point you could mark them.

 

For me a testament of video value is "have I downloaded this", and yup, I had.

My drill, involves VLC Media Player:

1. In browser, copy address of the Youtube video
2. Start VLC Media Player
3.Pulldown: Media>Open Media Stream
4. Paste in "network URL" field. *
5. Pulldown: Tools>Codec Information
6. In Codec Tab, copy field "Location"
7.. In browser, open new tab and paste
8. Previous video will be there; right-click it and choose "download"

* Every so often this stops working, apparently due to some revision at Youtube. When it happens, searching will usually find an updated config file for VLC Media Player.

This is getting to be a go-to thread for chain install, btw.

Oh, and subscribe to that guy's channel, helps him out.

 

This is where you are gettind confused.

They do show you where each cam goes, BEFORE you install the chain.

I have been trying to get you to understand that AFTER installing the timing chain.......
You do NOT need those colored links any longer.
Those colored links are for INSTALLING the chain.

Soooooooo AFTER You've installed the chain, you will notice WHERE the cams are, AFTER................
you've installed the chain.

Then AFTER you install the timing cover, and tensioner, and AFTER you released the tensioner...
you can (SHOULD) rotate the engine twice, 720 degrees. The mark on the pully should be at "0", zero....

If the chain did not slip a tooth, and the marks on the cams and crank had the colored link in the correct spot,
when installing it, you will be able to tell if the timing is STILL correct and has not skipped a tooth.

HOW do you do that????? By looking at the cams and see if they are in the SAME place they were when
you installed the timing chain onto the sprockets.

NO, there are NO marks on the cam cover, but you do not need them. Just notice where they are when you
put the chain on.

I locked the cams in place before I took the chain off, so they didn't move.
But I also noticed WHERE they where, so if they had moved, I knew where to put them,
so it would be easier to install the chain. And if it was off, I'd be able to remove the tensioner,
and move the chain off the cam and move the cam and put the chain on, WITHOUT having to
remove the timing cover!

But when I rotated the engine twice, 720 degrees, AFTER installing the timing chain cover and released the tensioner, the cams where in the correct spot. The engine started, rattled until the oil filled the lifters and has been running smoothly for just over 18,000 miles.

And since yours is running smoothly, the timing must be correct. It's the other issues you need to be
concerned with and resolve them..

 

You aren't reading the whole post.
And not understanding.....
"
NO, there are NO marks on the cam cover, but you do not need them. Just notice where they are when you
put the chain on."

"By looking at the cams and see if they are in the SAME place they were when
you installed the timing chain onto the sprockets."

I'll just take have to except you don't want to understand. You're too hung up on the colored links....

 

The timing marks do exist, but the other marks being referred to do not on a stock engine. This is throwing everybody off.

If one were to create those marks on the head or valve cover, perhaps by a paint marker, they would first need to ensure that the timing was set correctly. But most people have the timing cover off because they're in the middle of a HG job, or because they want to check the timing, so this method doesn't help them because those imaginary marks don't yet exist. And most people probably wouldn't want to simply eyeball the positions of the timing marks on the sprockets and go "That looks about right" at the risk of having to take the cover off again for a redo.

Once the timing has been set correctly, those marks could be created, and they could help verify timing after it had first been set correctly using the colored links (or by counting links between the timing marks), and people wouldn't have to eyeball the positions anymore and could instead confidently say "The timing marks on the sprockets now line up exactly with the marks I'd put in the last time I had the timing cover off".

 

No eye balling needed. You can see by where the cam is. Where the lobs are.
Move the cam one tooth either direction and the lobs are off...
It's just not important anymore.

 

I don't think it is possible to verify that the chain is on correctly without removing the timing chain cover. Yes, the orange links may be on the timing marks on the camshaft sprockets when the harmonic balancer is at the 0° mark, but the yellow link may be still be off by a tooth.

Also, you can actually measure the chain stretch to see if it still within spec; that way you don't throw away a perfectly good chain.