I'm following a Haynes manual for my 2002 Ford Escape. It says to remove the timing chain by turning the crankshaft until the keyway is at 11.
There are no markings near the crankshaft to let you know when it's at 11 though. I figure since they were being so cavalier I would too so I printed up a clock, adjusted for the angle of the engine and took my best guess at 11.
The camshafts have marks on them but it's really hard to tell what position on the clock the camshaft marks are at.
So I relied on the crankshaft being at 11 and removed the timing chain. Immediately after doing so I realized I could put my finger on the tooth above the exhaust camshaft mark and move my head to the other side to verify that it was at 12 o clock. Well, guess what? It was at like 12:45.
Then I noticed you could move the camshafts by hand so I did that a little bit and they're probably in the same position but who knows, they could be off by a tooth or two. Fortunately someone put a marks on the timing chains (the factory??) So I can line everything back up probably.
- I was just wondering how accurate this has to be. Will it destroy my engine if it's off by a tooth or two?
- As long as I don't rotate things too much more and put the timing chain back on so the marks on the chain match the marks on the sprockets I can safely assume I am back at step 0, right?
- Since the pistons are approximately at the neutral position anyways technically I could just mark a line from the sprockets to the heads and then when I put it back together use that mark, right?
Thanks for your help!